Middle East Peace and Security Initiative Nonresident Senior Fellow Nicholas Blanford writes for IHS Jane’s on reports that the Syrian government has given seventy-five tanks to Hezbollah to use against anti-government militant groups:
Regional media reports have claimed that the Syrian government has handed 75 Soviet-era tanks to Lebanese Shia Muslim organisation Hizbullah to enable it to form an armoured brigade for use against Syrian anti-government militant groups, and particularly Islamist militants such as the Islamic State and the Jaish al-Fatah coalition. The story was first reported in Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai al-Aam on 26 September, which detailed the transfer of 75 T-55 and T-72 main battle tanks (MBTs) to Hizbullah.
Although Hizbullah has not commented on the report, which remains unverified, IHS Jane’s assesses the report to be credible given the organisation’s operational pattern since its intervention in the Syria conflict on the side of the government of President Bashar al-Assad began in 2012.