Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) opened its own prison in the Zamla gas field in the countryside of Raqqa in northeastern Syria. 

According to sources who spoke to Syria TV website on July 12, the prison consists of a one-story building divided into two sections and four interrogation rooms. Half of the prison is underground, and the upper part is surrounded by high berms. The area of the section dedicated to civilian detainees is 55 square meters and contains more than 90 detainees, most of whom are displaced people from the countryside of Homs.

A military source from the prison told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The prison was equipped after the expulsion of the [Syrian army's] Fourth Division, on May 13. The prison is surrounded by snipers and fighters with light machine guns. Cars loaded with various ammunition and monitoring devices come to the prison periodically. The prison also includes four-wheel-drive vehicles. Work has begun on digging trenches and stacking up berms to protect the prison from external attacks and prevent prisoners from escaping. The prison is supervised by an Iranian general and has about 20 interrogators of foreign nationalities. It is divided into two sections: one civilian and one military section. Civilians are only released through tribal mediation or on bail after pledging allegiance to Iran. The IRGC soldiers are sometimes imprisoned for discipline and then redeployed.”

The source added, “The IRGC has several prisons in the area, namely the Hamdan airport prison in al-Bukamal, one in the city of al-Mayadin, one next to al-Tala’i camp in Deir ez-Zor and another in the Homs desert in Palmyra. The latter was established at the end of 2019, consisting of three buildings, containing 10 cells, and the director of the prison is a Syrian affiliated with the Iranian militias called Jumaa al-Daher.”