Russian and Iranian allies scrambled to support president Bashar al-Assad against resurging rebellion in ongoing civil war
A car drives past Syria n army equipment that was abandoned on the highway to Damascus, near the town of Suran, north of Hama city on December 3rd. Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Gettyrebels advancing against government forces pushed close on Tuesday to the major city of Hama, rebels and a war monitor said, after their sudden capture of Aleppo last week rocked president Bashar al-Assad.
Compounding Mr Assad’s problems, fighters from a US-backed, Kurdish-led coalition battled government forces in the northeast, both sides said, opening a new front along a vital supply route. Now, however, Russia has been concentrating on the war in Ukraine, while Israeli strikes over the past three months have decimated the leadership of Hizbullah, the strongest Iran-backed force fighting in Syria.
Any sustained escalation in Syria risks further destabilising a region already alight from wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where a truce between Israel and the Hizbullah militant group took effect last week. Syrian state media reported that the army and allied forces were repelling an SDF assault on the villages, the only Syrian government presence along the east bank of the Euphrates river, an area otherwise mostly held by the SDF.
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