Iran-backed militants entered Syria yesterday to bolster dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime against the Islamist rebels who seized Aleppo.
Militias crossed into the war-torn country from neighbouring Iraq, following a lightning offensive against the Syrian army by rebel forces from the hardline Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Turkish rebel groups.
Their seizure of Aleppo, Syria’s second city, and swathes of territory in the north of the country has reignited the deadly civil war in Syria and shocked its allies in Russia and Iran.
President Assad blamed the West for the ‘terrorist escalation’, and accused the US and its allies of attempting 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 in it and redraw the map in line with the objectives of the United States and the West.’
Russia and Iran vowed to continue their support for the Assad regime, and Russian premier Vladimir Putin spoke with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian yesterday.
He sent Russian fighter jets to pound Aleppo and the rebels’ northern stronghold Idlib, and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated 500 people had been killed since fighting began last week, including 92 civilians.
Hundreds of Iranian-backed militias crossed into Syria from Iraq, including fighters from Kataib Hezbollah, an elite Shia armed faction with a reputation for deadly attacks against military and diplomatic targets.
Militias crossed into Syria from neighbouring Iraq, following a lightning offensive against the Syrian army by rebel forces 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 on Monday
View of damaged buildings following a Russian airstrike, in Idlib, northern Syria on Monday
A woman mourns outside the hospital after an airstrike killed several people including children, during an airstrike on a camp for internally displaced people in Maarat Misreen, north of Idlib on Monday
It is the most powerful group in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has claimed more than 150 attacks on US forces since the war in Gaza began, and has been designated as a terrorist organisation in the US.
They were expected to head north to support the Syrian government forces in counter attacks against 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 seize Aleppo and parts of Idlib province because Iran’s proxies were distracted by fighting in Gaza and Lebanon.
Russian air support is also expected to have been lessened because of its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Moscow’s air support and Iranian-backed militia groups kept President Assad in power after an uprising in 2011, which erupted into a lengthy civil war.
The UN Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting on Syria today (tues).
Meanwhile the former head of MI6 warned the re-eruption of violence in Syria could have consequences for Britain.
Sir Alex Younger said Britain faced a heightened terror threat if Syrian camps holding Shamima Begum and other Islamic State extremists collapsed.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad blamed the West for the ‘terrorist escalation’, and accused the US and its allies of attempting to redraw the map of the Middle East
A rebel fighter walks near a military vehicle in Menagh, north of Aleppo on Monday
The Syrian Civil Defense reported three people were killed as a result of airstrikes targeting three hospitals in Idlib
A man looks at a camp for internally displaced people destroyed during an airstrike near the village of Harbnush
Syrian opposition forces, led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched an offensive on 27 November, taking large parts of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city
Terror group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is led by Islamist warlord Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, who has been wanted by the US for over ten years, with a $10 million (£7.9 million) bounty on his head
The detention camps lie in parts of north-east Syria under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by hundreds of US troops.
But Donald Trump could withdraw those forces when he becomes US President, risking a power vacuum in the region.
Sir Alex, who led MI6 from 2014 to 2020, told the BBC: ‘The camps represent a hotbed of radicalisation and haven’t been sorted out. If the SDF were to go off the job, our security situation here would worsen.’
He said the Assad regime was guilty of ‘merciless brutality’, but added: ‘You cannot pretend that a hardline Islamist group, albeit one that is trying to moderate its image, represents a great future either.
‘It seems to me it’s more likely that we are seeing a reignition of the civil war and the conflict in all its dimensions.’
HTS, an al-Qaeda’s splinter group, has faced accusations of human rights abuses including torturing detainees.
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