The Cable
The Cable goes inside the foreign policy machine, from Foggy Bottom to Turtle Bay, the White House to Embassy Row.

Iranian Drones Now Hitting Rebel Targets in Syria

Iranian drone program branching out from border defense to ops in Pakistan and Syria

Iranians walk past Iran's Shahed 129 drone displayed during celebrations in Tehran to mark the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution on February 11, 2016. 


Iranians waved "Death to America" banners and took selfies with a ballistic missile as they marked 37 years since the Islamic revolution, weeks after Iran finalised a nuclear deal with world powers.
 / AFP / ATTA KENARE        (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians walk past Iran's Shahed 129 drone displayed during celebrations in Tehran to mark the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution on February 11, 2016. Iranians waved "Death to America" banners and took selfies with a ballistic missile as they marked 37 years since the Islamic revolution, weeks after Iran finalised a nuclear deal with world powers. / AFP / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians walk past Iran's Shahed 129 drone displayed during celebrations in Tehran to mark the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution on February 11, 2016. Iranians waved "Death to America" banners and took selfies with a ballistic missile as they marked 37 years since the Islamic revolution, weeks after Iran finalised a nuclear deal with world powers. / AFP / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

We can add Iran to the list of countries that have dropped munitions in anger over the past year, now that an arms researcher has been able to geolocate video of an Iranian drone striking targets near Aleppo, Syria.

We can add Iran to the list of countries that have dropped munitions in anger over the past year, now that an arms researcher has been able to geolocate video of an Iranian drone striking targets near Aleppo, Syria.

On Feb. 4, an Iranian news show broadcast a short piece highlighting how Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have been using the Shahed 129 drone to monitor the country’s southeast borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. But as arms researcher Galen Wright points out, “in addition to footage of the drones operating out of Konarak airport near Pakistan, the program featured two short clips of the aircraft striking targets south of Aleppo.” Watch the report, and the footage, here.

Wright figured this out by geolocating the strikes to the border region between Idlib and Aleppo. The footage shows the Iranian drone bombing a group of men in a field as well as a house in the nearby village of Halasah. While this is the first time we’ve seen evidence of an actual airstrike, the drone is hardly a newcomer to the war in Syria. There’s been footage of the Shahed flying over Damascus as far back as 2014, but the strike would mark Iran’s entrance into the growing club of countries that have used armed drones in conflict alongside Iraq, Pakistan, and Nigeria just in the past year.

Iran hasn’t been shy about deploying the bird. One crashed in Pakistan in August, 2015, setting off a brief flurry of Tweets:

But the system is no joke. When the Iranian Revolutionary Guard first rolled it out back in 2012, they claimed the drone could operate at a range of about 1,700 km. and can stay airborne for up to 24 hours. The system can also carry up to eight missiles.

Photo Credit: ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.