Iraqi fighters head to Syria to battle rebels but Lebanon’s Hezbollah stays out: sources

Iran also said it will provide ‘any support needed’ after rebels seized Aleppo last week in a lightning assault

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Syrian rebels on top of a military aircraft after gaining control of the Nayrab military airport in Aleppo on Monday. Photo: dpa

Published: 6:52am, 3 Dec 2024Updated: 10:08am, 3 Dec 2024

Hundreds of Iran-backed Iraqi fighters crossed into Syria on Monday to help the government fight rebels who seized Aleppo last week, but Lebanon’s Hezbollah has no plans for now to join them, according to sources.

Iran’s constellation of allied regional militia groups, aided by Russian air power, has been integral to the success of pro-government forces in subduing rebels in Syria who rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

But that alliance faces a new test after last week’s lightning advance by rebels in northwest Syria, with Russia focused on war in Ukraine and Hezbollah’s leadership decimated by a war with Israel that ended in a ceasefire last week.

The rebel storm of Aleppo is the biggest success of anti-Assad fighters for years. Government forces had held complete control of Aleppo since capturing what was then Syria’s largest city in a siege in 2016, one of the major turning points of a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

A tank, left behind by regime forces, on the road leading to the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun, in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province. Photo: TNS

The head of Syria’s main opposition group abroad, Hadi al-Bahra, said the rebels were able to seize the city so quickly because Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups were distracted by their conflict with Israel.