Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have deployed to Syria to back President Bashar Assad’s counteroffensive against Sunni jihadi insurgents who have captured large portions of northwestern Syria, including most of the city of Aleppo.
An Iraqi military official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Iraqi militias in Syria have already been deployed to the war effort and that additional forces have crossed the border, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
Some 200 Iraqi militants on pickup trucks crossed into Syria overnight on Sunday through the strategic Al-Qa’im border crossing, near Abu Kamal in Deir ez-Zor Province, said the Syria Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based opposition war monitor.
Moreover, Iran had dispatched dozens of fighters from Shi’ite militias and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to Syria by air, Sky News Arabia reported.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Assad in Damascus on Sunday and reaffirmed Tehran’s full backing for the Syrian regime.
“The Islamic Republic will insist on its principled stance to fully support the Syrian government, nation and army in the fight against terrorism and safeguard regional security and stability,” Araghchi was quoted by the media as saying during the meeting.
The top diplomat later arrived in Ankara to discuss developments in Syria. The Turkish government supports many of the Sunni insurgents fighting against the Assad regime.
Meanwhile, dozens were killed in Syrian and Russian airstrikes on insurgent positions in Idlib and Hama provinces, located south and southwest of Aleppo.
The Syria Observatory for Human Rights reported that 11 civilians were killed in Idlib, with dozens more injured.
Since the rebels’ assault began on Nov. 27, government airstrikes aided by Russian fighter jets have killed 56 people, including 20 children, the Syrian opposition-run rescue service known as the White Helmets said.
In addition, AP reported that U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds fled in large numbers from Tel Rifaat, a city north of Aleppo, which was seized by Turkish-backed insurgents.
Withdrawing from the fighting, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces called for a humanitarian corridor to lead people to safety in the Kurdish-held areas in northeastern Syria.
The rebels’ surprise attack against Assad’s forces in Aleppo on Nov. 27 took place the same day the ceasefire in Lebanon went into effect, ending over a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in which the terrorist group suffered heavy blows.
On Sunday night, Israeli fighter jets intercepted an Iranian plane over Syria suspected to be transporting weapons to Hezbollah, forcing it to return to Tehran as part of efforts to maintain the ceasefire agreement.
The “Letter of Guarantees,” an annex to the agreement, underscores the United States’ commitment to collaborating with Israel to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities in Lebanon, including halting the transfer of weapons, proxies and materials into Lebanon from Iran.
Additional provisions in the two-and-a-half-page U.S.-Israel side deal reportedly include guarantees of Israeli operational freedom against Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire. JNS
{Matzav.com}