— ❗️🇮🇷/🇸🇾 BREAKING: For the first time, Iranian drones have taken off from the Islamic Republic, and are in the skies of Homs

@Middle_East_Spectator

My official prediction

— 🇸🇾 Syrian Ministry of Defense:

'There is no truth to the news circulated by some media outlets and pages affiliated with terrorist organizations about any withdrawal of any units of our armed forces present in the vicinity of the city of Homs and its countryside. They are fully prepared and ready to carry out their duty to confront any terrorist assault.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

'I never lost hope, even for one day. Because I knew deep down, the future belongs to us.' – Imam Khamenei

— ❗️🇸🇾/🇮🇷 NEW: The Syrian government has reportedly rejected an Iranian offer to send two brigades of regular troops into Syria, out of fear that it would 'tarnish Assad's domestic support' and that it would 'provoke Israel to enter Syria' – Source

@Middle_East_Spectator

Take this with a huge grain of salt.

I also hear that Iran is currently still trying to convince the Syrians.

— 🇸🇾/🇮🇷/🇷🇺 Big if true / speculation:

An important Iranian analyst on X, who has ties with Iranian personnel inside Syria, claims that Russia has assessed the situation, and it believes that an HTS takeover would not necessarily endanger their interests in Syria because they perceive HTS as 'anti-American'. Apparently, Iran has also assessed the situation, but came to the opposite conclusion, which has led to a rift between the two countries on the matter of Syria.

He also says Bashar al-Assad is much more receptive to Russian influence than Iranian influence, and that the Russians are currently involved in intense negotiations with him, while Iran is encouraging him to stand and fight, even offering to send forces.

The analyst also claims that Iran is slightly annoyed with Syria, because Assad allegedly refused to open up the Golan front against Israel, and I quote: 'Assad has been less and less willing to spend money or attention on the Axis of Resistance, he became less cooperative, prioritizing Syria's own interests first, being enticed by economic proposals from the UAE and other Gulf States.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇪🇬/🇯🇴/🇸🇾 NEW: Egypt and Jordan have urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to form a government in exile – Wall Street Journal

@Middle_East_Spectator

It just HAD to be Egypt and Jordan, the bald pharaoh and the tomato kingdom once again did their bidding for the Zionists.

— 🇸🇾/🇮🇷 Source inside Syria tells me that reports of 'all Iranian advisors leaving Syria' are false.

Some IRGC elements indeed left through Al-Bukamal crossing into Iraq while it was being handed over by the SAA to the SDF, mostly for practical reasons, as the road to Palmyra would have been much longer, and because the advisors supervised the crossing, which is now no longer under SAA control.

Almost all of the IRGC advisors, Afghan Fatemiyoun, and other Shia militias are currently in Damascus, especially in the Sayyida Zainab area near the shrine of Lady Zainab, after having relocated from western Aleppo. Also some presence near the Presidential palace and the Iranian Embassy.

Some high-ranking Iranian advisors, although very few, still remain inside Homs, in an effort to help organize the city's defensive lines in anticipation of the upcoming HTS offensive.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇸🇾 Also, it should be noted that the Iranian presence in Syria is not really a conventional fighting force, and never has been, contrary to what some people believe.

It's mostly IRGC advisors that help supervise SAA units, their maintenance, logistics, etc., in addition to some lightly armed Afghan Fatemiyoun units, which are basically skirmishers, troops you deploy to defend a trench or operate a machine gun pit, or to rush lightly defended ('soft') enemy lines.

In some very dire circumstances, like in 2015 and 2016, Iranian special forces and some highly motivated & well-armed Basij units were deployed to secure specific high value targets and to achieve certain tactical objectives.

But their numbers and their usage was limited, and 90% of their operations took place against ISIS (with the exception of some engagements in Aleppo) and in the countryside against irregular Daesh 'infantry', not conventional warfare with armored formations against the HTS / SNA in a highly urban and high-speed environment.

@Middle_East_Spectator