Iraq despatched a whole lot of Iran-backed fighters to Syria to assist the Assad regime struggle anti-regime forces who captured Aleppo final week.
At least 300 fighters, primarily from the Badr and Nujabaa teams, crossed late on Sunday utilizing a mud street to keep away from the official border crossing, two Iraqi safety sources mentioned, including that they had been there to defend a Shi’ite shrine.
A senior Syrian navy supply mentioned the fighters had crossed in small teams to keep away from airstrikes. “These are fresh reinforcements being sent to aid our comrades on the front lines in the north,” the supply mentioned.
The head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) mentioned no group below its umbrella had entered Syria, and that it doesn’t function outdoors Iraq.
Iran’s constellation of allied regional militia teams has lengthy been integral to the success of pro-regime forces in subduing the opposition who rose up in opposition to President Bashar Assad in 2011, and so they have lengthy maintained bases in Syria.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi mentioned on Monday that Syria’s navy was able to confronting the opposition however, referring to the regional militia teams Tehran backs, he added that “resistance groups will help and Iran will provide any support needed.”
The Syrian authorities and Russian warplanes intensified assaults on Monday in areas held by anti-regime forces within the northwest, residents and rescue staff mentioned, together with a strike on a displaced individuals’s camp that killed seven.
The lightning anti-regime assault final week dealt Assad his greatest blow in years, reigniting a battle that had appeared frozen for years after civil warfare entrance traces stabilized in 2020.
Russia, although targeted on its warfare in Ukraine since 2022, retains an air base in northern Syria. The foremost Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, has been targeted by itself warfare with Israel for the reason that Gaza battle started final 12 months.
The United States and United Arab Emirates have mentioned the potential for making an attempt to peel Assad away from Iran by providing to elevate sanctions if he cuts off weapons routes to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, sources accustomed to the matter mentioned.
The discussions occurred earlier than the opposition advance on Aleppo final week, the sources mentioned.
Syria’s battle erupted in a insurrection in opposition to Assad’s rule in 2011 and the opposition held a lot of Aleppo from 2012 till 2016, when authorities forces retook it with assist from Russia and Iran-backed militia in a turning level of the warfare.
Any extended escalation in Syria dangers additional destabilizing a area roiled by the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, with thousands and thousands of Syrians already displaced and with regional and international powers backing rival forces within the nation.
The Turkish and Iranian overseas ministers mentioned the preventing in Syria on Monday. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan mentioned opposition advances couldn’t be defined by overseas intervention and urged the Syrian opposition to compromise.
A spokesperson for Israel’s navy mentioned it will not let Iran exploit the Syria battle to switch weapons to Hezbollah.
Russia, whose 2015 entry into the battle turned the navy stability decisively in Assad’s favor, continues to assist him and is analyzing the state of affairs on the bottom, the Kremlin mentioned.
On Sunday Moscow dismissed the overall answerable for its forces in Syria, Russian warfare bloggers reported.
The Syrian authorities mentioned Syrian and Russian air forces had been putting opposition-held positions within the countryside east of Aleppo metropolis.
The White Helmets rescue group and residents of opposition-held areas within the north mentioned warplanes had hit residential areas of Aleppo metropolis and a displaced individuals’s camp in Idlib province the place seven individuals had been killed, together with 5 kids.
The authorities mentioned the navy was working to safe a string of cities recaptured from anti-regime forces on Sunday that run alongside the entrance line north of Hama, between Aleppo and Damascus.
In Türkiye, Syrian opposition chief Hadi al-Bahra mentioned the opposition sought to pressure Syria’s authorities to simply accept a political transition. “We are ready to start negotiating tomorrow,” Bahra mentioned.
Anadolu Agency mentioned the Türkiye-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) had taken the city of Tal Rifaat from the terrorist PKK’s Syrian offshoot YPG and was advancing in outer areas of the district.
Opposition sources and an Aleppo resident mentioned the YPG terrorist group was pulling out of the town’s Sheikh Maqsoud district below a take care of opposition forces. The YPG had lengthy held Sheikh Maqsoud.
Source: www.dailysabah.com