Hundreds of fighters affiliated with Iraqi militias crossed into Syria overnight, according to Syrian and Iraqi sources on Monday. This is an effort to strengthen its government efforts against armed opposition forces that have recently regained control of areas in Aleppo. This development was undoubtedly indicative of regional escalation as Tehran was sending support to the Damascus government while fighting erupted again.
It was an incursion of clandestine character for over 300 fighters of mainly the Badr and Nujabaa groups who crossed clandestinely from dirt road late Sunday, avoiding the busiest border crossing to evade detection, according to two Iraqi security sources. More reinforcements to join this long war which has now become so complex with the constantly changing of fighting lines and shifting sides within them.
“This action injects fresh life in our comrades at the front lines of the north than new high military source attributes to strategic entering small units to minimize exposure to airstrikes. Such hookups are crucial to president Bashar al-Assad’s military strategy since they will be consolidated into an entire network of militia allies with regional realignment.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasized on Monday that while the Syrian military is well-equipped to confront opposition forces, the associated “resistance groups” supported by Tehran will provide necessary assistance. He insisted that “Iran will extend whatever support is deemed essential.”
In the midst of this, the Syrian government and Russian airstrikes stepped up their targeting of areas in the northwest controlled by the opposition, impacting residential areas as well as camps for displaced people, according to local residents and rescue efforts. Among the strikes was an attack on a settlement facility that resulted in seven fatalities.
Just in last week, the offensive of the opposition forces pros and cons who had been battling since 2020, has taken a heavy toll on regime, that whose battle lines never stopped until 2020. This has shaken a tenuous equilibrium established following early civil war gains achieved by adversaries being repelled on the front by Russian and Iranian support.
Although Russia has been building up its military advantages, having presence along the current war in Ukraine, since 2022 it continues to have presence in the north of Syria in an airbase. Simultaneously, the largest single Iranian-backed organization, Hezbollah, is at war with Israel in reaction to the violence that erupted as a result of last year’s strife between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Engaged in a grassroots uprising since 2011 against Assad`s regime, the Syrian civil war saw Aleppo under opposition control from 2012 until it was liberated by government troops in 2016 with strong support from Russian and Iranian “fitah” militias—a turning point within the civil war.
The risk of long term escalation in Syria has the effect of further destabilizing an environment which is already unstable, particularly in the context of parallel, yet interrelated, struggles in Gaza and Lebanon. The situation of the humanitarian area in Syria is deteriorating in an alarming way, as millions of people have been displaced and global actors are held up in the patronage of conflicting structures.
The range of Syrian armed opposition organizations extends from state-backed groups from Turkey to “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,” an outfit formerly connected to al-Qaeda. Turkey also has a military garrison located in the northern Syrian area adjoining its border.
In north-eastern Syria, Kurdish-led groups, whom Ankara has referred to as terrorists but whose importance to the fight against ISIS is undeniable, now have historic US sponsorship, which complicates a highly complex Syrian theatre of war.
