The Iranian Revolutionary Guards militias and the Lebanese Hezbollah have restored the agricultural airport in al-Mayadeen, located on the southern outskirts of the city near Tirat al-Rahba, and the Iranian militias' camps in the Haidriya region, in the eastern Deir ez-Zor district according to the Syrian news site "Ain al-Efrat".
The website stated that in early July 2023, the Iranian militias brought heavy equipment and began the restoration of the al-Mayadeen agricultural airport, lifting dirt barriers around the airport and building warehouses to hide fixed-wing drones, and prefabricated rooms to control the aircraft at the airport.
The website explained that after the restoration of the airport, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards worked to connect the control room to the communication tower of the Iranian militias near the airport, which is equipped with solar panels sufficient to work throughout the day, for the purpose of improving communication between the airport and the command center located in the security area in the Tamo neighborhood.
The website noted that the job of supervising the airport and operating the communication tower was assigned to Hezbollah members of Syrian nationality from the districts of Homs, Hama and the Syrian coast, who in turn prevented local members from the city of al-Mayadeen from approaching the airport except with written permission from someone known as "al-Haj" Musaib , a senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in al-Mayadeen.
The site further claimed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah brought experts with Iranian and Lebanese citizenship from the capital Damascus, who specialize in Iranian UAVs, and also brought modern control and communication means, to start holding training courses and experimenting with the latest equipment at the agricultural airport.
At the beginning of August 2023, the Iranian militias began using the agricultural airport, and conducted several experiments in launching fixed-wing UAVs from the airport. The militias tried to use the airport secretly so as not to attract attention, but the "Ein Perat" news network managed to penetrate the veil of secrecy of these militias and obtain a video showing the vicinity of the airport and the communication tower of the communications battalion.
In April 2023, the site revealed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards conducted a test flight of a UAV launched from a fixed platform, which Iran sent to eastern Syria along with aid to earthquake survivors in February 2023, when it became clear that the Iranian militias were seeking to use more advanced UAVs in eastern Syria.