Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Thursday, June 1, 2023

Intel leak shows Iran arming Syria groups with roadside bombs to target US forces

1 June 2023, 3:21 pm 1 Edit

File: a US AH-64 Apache attack helicopter flies above US soldiers patrolling along the frontlines between areas held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish-backed fighters near the village of Dardara in the countryside of Tal Tamr in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, December 26, 2021. (Delil souleiman/AFP)

Iranian advisers are in Syria arming terror groups there with powerful roadside bombs to step up attacks on US forces there, the Washington Post reports.

The report, citing leaked documents and intelligence officials, say this is part of a move by Iran, in cooperation with Russia, to try to drive the US from the region.

The report says elite Quds Force unit members are equipping and training local groups with “powerful armor-piercing roadside bombs intended specifically to target US military vehicles and kill US personnel.”

The report says groups have already tried unsuccessfully to carry out such attacks, including in February when US-allied Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria seized three bombs.