INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Hundreds of Iran-backed Iraqi fighters crossed into Syria on Monday to help the government fight rebels who seized Aleppo last week, but
Lebanon&s Hezbollah has no plans for now to join them, according to sources.Iran&s constellation of allied regional militia groups, aided by
Russian air power, has been integral to the success of pro-government forces in subduing rebels in Syria who rose up against President
Bashar al-Assad in 2011, Reuters reported.But that alliance faces a new test after last week&s lightning advance by rebels in northwest
Syria, with Russia focused on war in Ukraine and Hezbollah&s leadership decimated by a war with Israel that ended in a ceasefire last
week.The rebel storm of Aleppo is the biggest success of anti-Assad fighters for years. Government forces had held complete control of
Aleppo since capturing what was then Syria&s largest city in a siege in 2016, one of the major turning points of a war that has killed
hundreds of thousands of people.The head of Syria&s main opposition group abroad, Hadi al-Bahra, told Reuters the rebels were able to seize
the city so quickly because Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups were distracted by their conflict with Israel.Preparations had been made
since last year for an assault on Aleppo, but it was held up by the war in Gaza, he said.Syria&s civil war had been frozen since 2020, with
Assad in control of most territory and all major cities. Rebels still held an enclave in the northwest, Turkey-backed forces held a strip
along the northern border and United States -backed, Kurdish-led forces controlled a pocket in the northeast.Any prolonged escalation in
Syria risks further destabilising a region roiled by the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, with millions of Syrians already displaced and with
regional and global powers backing rival forces in the country, Reuters reported.Iraqi and Syrian sources confirmed the deployment of more
Iran-backed Iraqi fighters to Syria
Iran&s Foreign Minister said Tehran &will provide any support needed& and that &resistance groups& would come to Assad&s aid.Russia, whose
2015 entry into the conflict turned the military balance decisively in Assad&s favour, continues to support him and is analysing the
situation on the ground, the Kremlin said.On Sunday Moscow dismissed the general in charge of its forces in Syria, Russian war bloggers
reported.The Syrian government said Syrian and Russian air forces were striking rebel-held positions in the countryside east of Aleppo
city.The White Helmets rescue organisation and residents of rebel-held areas in the north said warplanes had hit residential areas of Aleppo
city and a displaced people&s camp in Idlib province where seven people were killed, including five children.The Syrian government said it
had killed hundreds of rebel fighters in recent days, which Reuters could not independently confirm.The rebels fighting in Aleppo, Idlib and
Hama provinces in northwest Syria include mainstream groups backed by Turkey as well as the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former
al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.A Turkish official told Reuters Turkey had not given any permission for the rebel offensive, and Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham took no instructions from Turkey.The Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers discussed the fighting in Syria on Monday. Turkish
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said rebel advances could not be explained by foreign intervention and urged the Syrian opposition to
compromise.A spokesperson for Israel&s military said it would not let Iran exploit the Syria conflict to transfer weapons to Hezbollah.The
post Iraqi fighters head to Syria to battle rebels but Lebanon&s Hezbollah stays out first appeared on Ariana News.
