On January 15 the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) made its first fight deployment of the Kheiber Shekan medium-range ballistic missile to strike positions of the East Turkestan Islamic Occasion jihadist group in Syria. The assault was launched in response to the militants’ alleged culpability for terrorist assaults inside Iran on January 3 – specifically the bombing of a commemorative ceremony marking the assassination of IRGC commander in chief Qasem Soleimani which triggered near 300 civilian casualties. The brand new missile used to focus on the militants carries a warhead with an estimated 800kg weight and has an extended engagement vary estimated at 1450km, with the assault having seen missiles launched 1,230 kilometres making it the longest ranged ballistic missile strike in Iran’s historical past. The IRGC first gained the potential to have interaction targets at such ranges when it acquired the North Korean Rodong-1 missile within the late Nineteen Nineties, which had the same vary and warhead measurement, with the brand new Kheiber Shekan missile benefiting from a extra compact and simply movable design.
The Kheiber Shekan’s deployment time is significantly shorter than its Korean-designed predecessor simply 12 minutes as a result of its use of a stable gas composite. At 10.5 metres lengthy additionally it is roughly one third shorter. The missile’s precision is additional enhanced by the flexibility to regulate its trajectory in mid-flight whereas its re-entry automobile is in area, which is a functionality few ballistic missiles have and is assumed to make it among the many most exact on the planet from the medium vary class. Engagement ranges of 1200-1500km have lengthy been thought-about very important to the IRGC to facilitate strikes in opposition to Israel – and earlier than 2003 additionally in opposition to Iraq from deeper inside Iranian territory. The launch of 4 medium vary ballistic missiles was thus extensively interpreted as a present of pressure aimed primarily at Israel, but additionally at NATO member Turkey and each nations’ Western safety companions which have a number of army amenities throughout the area. Three elements of the missile launch together with its vary, its excessive precision, and the missile class’ deployment from nicely secured underground bunkers, make the newly demonstrated functionality significantly regarding for Israel and the US in addition to their safety companions akin to Turkey.
The East Turkestan Islamic Occasion focused within the Iranian missile strike is recognised by the United Nations as a terrorist organisation, and is comprised primarily of Turkic militants from the Chinese language Uyghur ethnic minority. The militants have for many years with in depth assist from the Turkish state waged a marketing campaign to expel different ethnicities from China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang and set up a jihadist state just like that seen in northeast Syria at present. The militants have been funnelled from Afghanistan and China to Syria by way of Turkey for over a decade with the assist and funding of Turkish intelligence companies, which have since 2011 performed a number one function in efforts to overthrow the Syrian authorities. Syria’s Idlib governate the place the jihadists are based mostly straddles the Turkish border and is the first hub of Islamist terror operations not solely within the nation, however by many estimates within the wider world. U.S. envoy to the coalition combating the Islamic State, Brett H. McGurk beforehand highlighted that “Idlib Province [in Northern Syria bordering Turkey] is the most important Al Qaeda secure haven since 9/11,” with jihadist militant forces based mostly there numbering within the excessive tens of 1000’s.
Idlib’s standing as a jihadist enclave and secure haven for militants inside Syria’s borders has been a direct results of Turkish army interventions on the behalf of terror teams based mostly there. A serious Syrian-led offensive, together with the Iranian-aligned militia Hezbollah and benefitting from restricted Russian air assist, was notably set again in early 2020 when Turkey offered in depth air and artillery assist to focus on Syrian positions and shield militants on the bottom. Whereas Ankara has continued to determine the overthrow of the Hezbollah-allied Syrian authorities as one in all its coverage targets, Syria’s standing as Iran’s closest state ally within the area making certain Tehran maintains a powerful stake in supporting Damascus and supporting counterterrorism efforts inside Syrian borders. With the Chinese language-origin jihadists within the East Turkestan Islamic Occasion having for many years posed a severe risk to Chinese language pursuits, and carried out a number of terrorist assaults in opposition to Chinese language civilians inside the nation, the Iranian strike itself comes within the context of rising safety cooperation with Beijing. Alongside Israel, Turkey is anticipated to be among the many most threatened events by the assault, with Turkish particular forces and different personnel interspersed with Islamist militias all through Idlib and having been built-in into Islamist militia teams working in Syria since near the outbreak of the warfare in 2011.
