Several hundred Islamic Republic-backed Iraqi militants entered Syria on Monday to assist Bashar al-Assad’s government in fending off a recent offensive by anti-regime forces led by the Islamist faction and former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The reinforcements are expected to help contain the rebels, who unexpectedly seized the Syrian city of Aleppo and a large portion of territory in the northwestern provinces of Hama and Idlib last week.
The contingent, consisting of fighters from Iraq's Badr and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba paramilitary organizations, will bolster Syria’s regular military units and Russian Air Force assets in resisting the latest advances by the insurgents.
Notably absent from this effort is the Hezbollah militia, a long-time ally of al-Assad, which has suffered heavy losses following Israel's September military maneuvers in southern Lebanon, targeting its leadership and operatives. Media reports suggest that the proxy group relocated much of its operational capacity out of Syria in October to focus on its attacks against the Jewish state.
Another ally of Tehran based in Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah, released a statement on Monday confirming that it is observing the situation in the embattled country and deciding whether to send its personnel to aid Damascus.
The ongoing conflict in Syria began in March 2011, when various parties launched an uprising against al-Assad’s Ba'athist dictatorship. What started as political opposition quickly escalated into a brutal civil war, drawing in foreign powers such as the Islamic Republic, Russia, Turkey, and the United States.
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