Hundreds Of Iraqi Fighters Help Fight Syrian Rebels, Hezbollah Still 'Wit And See'

JAKARTA - Hundreds of Iranian-backed Iraqi fighters crossed into Syria on Monday, helping the Syrian government fight the rebels who seized Aleppo last week. But Hezbollah Lebanon currently has no plans to join them, according to sources.

The constellation of Iran's allied regional militia group, assisted by Russian air force, is an integral part of the success of pro-government forces in defeating rebels in Syria who rose against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

But the alliance faces a new test after last week's flash strikes by rebels in northwestern Syria, with Russia focusing on war in Ukraine and Hezbollah's leadership being crushed by war with Israel which ended in a ceasefire last week.

The rebel attack on Aleppo was the biggest success of anti-Assad fighters over the years.

Government forces have taken full control of Aleppo since capturing Syria's largest city in the 2016 siege, one of the major turning points in a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The head of Syria's main opposition group abroad, Hadi al-Bahra, told Reuters the rebels were able to seize the city so quickly that Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups were disrupted by their conflict with Israel.

Preparations have been made since last year to carry out attacks on Aleppo, but have stalled due to the war in Gaza, he said.

Civil war in Syria has stalled since 2020, with Assad in control of most areas and entire major cities. Rebels still control the enclave in the northwest, Turkish-backed forces control the territory along the northern border, and US-backed Kurdish-led troops control the enclave in the northeast.

Every prolonged escalation in Syria risks increasingly disrupting the stability of the conflict-torn region in Gaza and Lebanon, with millions of Syrians displaced and regional and global forces supporting rival forces in the country.

Iraqi and Syrian sources confirmed the deployment of more Iranian-backed Iraqi fighters to Syria. Iranian Foreign Ministers said Tehran would provide whatever support it needed and "the resistance group" would help Assad.

At least 300 fighters, mainly from the Badr and Nujabaa groups in Iraq, crossed late on Sunday using other routes to avoid official border crossings, two Iraqi security sources said.

Senior Syrian military sources say fighters have crossed into small groups to avoid airstrikes.

These are new reinforcements sent to help our colleagues on the front lines in the north, the source said.

The head of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, which includes Shia militia groups allied to Iran, said no group under its umbrella entered Syria, and they were not operating outside Iraq.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Iraqi armed group allied with Iran, Kataib Hezbollah, said the group was closely monitoring the criminal group's aggression against the Syrian people.

The Lebanese Hezbollah, which has been Iran's most capable force on the battlefield and key to the Assad military alliance in Syria, has not yet been asked to intervene and is not ready to send troops after a tiring conflict with Israel, three sources familiar with the matter said. group thought.