Newly surfaced video footage from eastern Syria is shedding light on a long-suspected Iranian military base believed to have played a central role in smuggling weapons to Hezbollah and Iranian-backed militias across the region.

The unverified footage, circulating on social media, allegedly shows the remains of a secret Iranian base established nearly seven years ago near the Syria-Iraq border, close to the town of Albukamal. According to multiple reports and analysts, the site was abandoned following the collapse of the Assad regime in the area, after which Iranian forces and affiliated militias reportedly fled across the border into Iraq.

The site is of particular concern because it appears to contain the entrance to a vast underground tunnel network large enough to allow vehicles to pass through. The infrastructure is believed to have been built by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as part of its regional weapons-transfer apparatus.

The base itself was first exposed publicly in September 2019, when Fox News reported that Iran had established a major military compound in Syria, citing multiple Western intelligence sources. Known as the Imam Ali compound, the base was reportedly approved at the highest levels of the Iranian regime and built by the IRGC’s elite Quds Force.

Satellite imagery analyzed at the time showed multiple fortified buildings, warehouses, and missile storage facilities. Analysts warned that precision-guided missiles could be housed at the site, raising alarms in Israel and among Western intelligence agencies. Later images revealed a large tunnel entrance, with intelligence assessments concluding that the tunnels were designed to store vehicles transporting advanced weapons systems.

One such tunnel, located nearby, was reportedly struck in an airstrike in March 2020, forcing Iranian forces to halt construction temporarily. The Albukamal area itself has repeatedly been targeted over the years, including strikes on facilities linked to Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia backed by Iran that operated in Syria in support of the Assad regime and played a role in arms transfers to Hezbollah.

Kataib Hezbollah was led by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis until he was killed in a U.S. airstrike in January 2020 alongside IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani near Baghdad airport.

After 2020, public reporting on the Imam Ali base largely faded, and it remained unclear whether Iran continued expanding the site. The newly surfaced footage suggests that, at least for now, the compound is abandoned. The video shows a motorcyclist emerging from the tunnel and a vehicle driving inside, but no active personnel or equipment are visible.

While it has not been independently confirmed that the footage definitively shows the Imam Ali compound, the scale of the tunnels and their location align closely with earlier intelligence assessments. Beyond the tunnel network, the base was believed to include warehouses and logistical infrastructure designed to sustain Iran’s military footprint in Syria and support allied militias.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)