Hezbollah not intending to send fighters to Assad in Syria for now, sources say

White Helmets members work next to a damaged building at the scene of what the organisation says is a strike, at a location given as Idlib, Syria, released December 2, 2024, in this still image taken from a handout video. The White Helmets/Handout via REUT

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese armed group Hezbollah does not currently intend to send fighters to northern Syria to support the Syrian army there, three sources familiar with the Iran-backed group's thinking told Reuters on Monday.

An alliance of rebel fighters launched a surprise offensive last week on northern Syria, sweeping through government-held territory in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib and forcing government troops out of Aleppo city in the biggest setback for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in years.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday Syria's military was capable of confronting the rebels but "resistance groups will help and Iran will provide any support needed", referring to the regional militia groups Tehran backs.

The sources told Reuters that Hezbollah had not yet been asked to intervene, adding that the group was not ready to send forces to Syria at this stage following more than a year of hostilities against the Israeli military, including two months of heavy ground fighting in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran was closely monitoring developments and stands ready to assist the Syrian government in any way possible, but that Tehran had no current plans to provide military support, including stationing military personnel on the ground.

"In meetings with Syrian officials, there was no request from for the deployment of Iranian military personnel, said the official.

When asked about Hezbollah, a regional official close to Tehran said: "Tehran is in contact with Hezbollah, and no, there has not been any such request from the Syrian government so far."

As many as 4,000 Hezbollah fighters may have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since Oct. 2023, according to a source familiar with the group's operations.

Israeli airstrikes also increasingly targeted the group's fighters in Syria, where Hezbollah had intervened to help Assad's forces recapture territory starting in 2013, alongside his allies Iran and Russia.

One of the sources said the group had pulled senior officers responsible for Aleppo out of northern Syria to help fight a ground war against Israel.

Two other sources, one Lebanese and one Syrian, said Hezbollah had pulled back forces from Syria in mid-October, when the fighting with Israel along the border intensified.



(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Parisa Hafezi in Geneva; Editing by Alex Richardson and Timothy Heritage)