Iran-backed militants entered Syria yesterday to strengthen dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime against Islamist rebels who took over Aleppo.
Militias entered the war-torn country from neighboring Iraq following a lightning offensive against the Syrian army by rebels from the hardline Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Turkish rebel groups.
Their capture of Aleppo, Syria’s second city, and parts of territory in the country’s north have reignited Syria’s deadly civil war and shocked allies in Russia and Iran.
President Assad blamed the West for the “terrorist escalation” and accused the US and its allies of trying to redraw the map of the Middle East.
A statement from his office said: “The terrorist escalation reflects the far-reaching goals of dividing the region and fragmenting the countries within it, and redrawing the map in accordance with the objectives of the United States and the West.”
Russia and Iran pledged to continue their support for the Assad regime, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spoke yesterday with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.
He sent Russian fighter jets to bomb Aleppo and the rebels’ northern stronghold of Idlib. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that 500 people, including 92 civilians, have been killed since fighting began last week.
Hundreds of Iranian-backed militias have crossed into Syria from Iraq, including fighters from Kataib Hezbollah, an elite Shiite armed faction with a reputation for deadly attacks on military and diplomatic targets.
Militias have invaded Syria from neighboring Iraq, following a lightning offensive against the Syrian army by rebels from the hardline Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Turkish rebel groups
A rebel fighter holds his weapon as he stands in front of a military vehicle in Menagh, north of Aleppo, Syria, December 2
View of damaged buildings after a Russian airstrike in Idlib, northern Syria
A woman mourns outside hospital after an airstrike killed several people, including children, during an airstrike on a camp for internally displaced persons in Maarat Misreen, north of Idlib, Syria, December 2
It is the most powerful group within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has claimed more than 150 attacks on US forces since the start of the war in Gaza and has been designated a terrorist organization in the US.
They were expected to move north to support Syrian government forces in counter-attacks on the HTS offensive.
The leader of Syria’s main opposition group, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, said insurgents were able to capture Aleppo and parts of Idlib province because Iran’s allies were distracted by the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon.
Russian air support is also expected to have been reduced due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Moscow’s air support and Iranian-backed militias kept President Assad in power after a 2011 uprising that turned into a protracted civil war.
The UN Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting on Syria today (Tuesday).
Meanwhile, the former head of MI6 warned that the resurgence of violence in Syria could have consequences for Britain.
Sir Alex Younger said Britain would face an increased terror threat if the Syrian camps holding Shamima Begum and other Islamic State extremists were to collapse.
A rebel fighter walks near a military vehicle in Menagh, north of Aleppo, Syria, on December 2
The Syrian Civil Defense reported that three people were killed as a result of airstrikes on three hospitals in Idlib
A man looks at an internally displaced persons camp destroyed in an airstrike near the village of Harbnush
Syrian opposition forces, led by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched an offensive on November 27 and captured large parts of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.
The detention camps are in parts of northeastern Syria under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by hundreds of American troops.
But Donald Trump could withdraw those troops if he becomes US president, threatening a power vacuum in the region.
Sir Alex, who led MI6 from 2014 to 2020, told the BBC: ‘The camps are a hotbed of radicalization and have not yet been resolved. If the SDF were to resign from its job, our security situation here would deteriorate.”
He said the Assad regime was guilty of “merciful brutality,” but added: “You cannot pretend that a hardline Islamic group, even as it tries to moderate its image, also represents a great future.
“It seems more likely to me that we will see a resurgence of civil war and conflict in all its dimensions.”
HTS, a splinter group of al-Qaeda, has faced accusations of human rights abuses, including the torture of prisoners.