Iran To Send Missiles To Drones To Help Syria Face Rebel Forces

The successful Syrian army tank in Da'raa City. (Twitter/@mintelworld)

JAKARTA - Tehran will send missiles, drones and more advisers to Syria, a senior Iranian official said on Friday, as rebel forces launched a lightning strike to the south towards Homs City, a biggest challenge to the Government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Fighting for Homs will break the Syrian capital, Damascus, from the coast, the old defense stronghold of the Alawi Assad minority sect and where its Russian allies have naval bases and air bases.

"It is likely that Tehran needs to send military equipment, missiles, and drones to Syria. Tehran has taken all the necessary steps to increase the number of its military advisers in Syria and deploy troops," said the official, who did not want to be named.

"Now, Tehran provides intelligence and satellite support to Syria."

As previously reported, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, launched a new attack from their stronghold in northwestern Syria last week.

Over the weekend, rebels seized Aleppo, the country's second-largest city, before moving south and entering the city of Hama on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah sent a small number of "supervisory forces" from Lebanon to Syria overnight to help prevent anti-government fighters from seizing Homs, two senior Lebanese security sources told Reuters.

A Syrian military officer and two regional officials close to Tehran also told Reuters elite troops from Iran-backed Hezbollah had crossed from Lebanon overnight and had taken positions in Homs.

It follows the statement of Secretary-General Hezbollah Naim Qassem in a televised address, pledging his side would support the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad who is facing an uprising.

"They will not be able to achieve their goals even though what they have done in the past, and we as Hezbollah will be on the Syrian side in thwarting the goal of this aggression as best we can," Qassem said on Thursday, adding the "aggression" was sponsored by the United States and Israel. , reported Al Jazeera.

Qassem did not provide details on how Hezbollah would support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but said the Iran-backed group would do whatever it could.

After years of being locked behind a frozen frontline, the rebels have come out of their strongholds in northwestern Idlib to achieve the fastest battlefield progress by both sides since the street uprising against President Assad developed into civil war 13 years ago.

President Assad has regained control of much of Syria after its main allies - Russia, Iran, and the Lebanese Hezbollah group - supported him. However, all of this was recently diverted by another crisis, which gave Syrian Sunni Muslim militants the opportunity to fight back.

The administration of President Assad relies heavily on the military support of Russia and Iran over the most intense years of civil war, helping it retake much of Syria's largest territory and cities before the frontline hardens in 2020.