Thousands of Iranian-backed fighters in Syria's central desert region are advancing east, bringing Tehran closer to its goal of securing a corridor from its border, through Iraq and all the way to the Mediterranean and providing it unhindered land access to its allies in Syria and Lebanon for the first time.
The land-route would be the biggest prize yet for Iran in its involvement in Syria's six-year-old civil war.
If Saudi Arabia's belated effort to pull Arab fully into the Arab fold works, Iran's efforts in Syria will come up a country short in a land bridge.
