Syrian rebels in a military vehicle in Aleppo on Dec. 1 2024. (Credit: Aref Tammawi/AFP)
In 2016, Hezbollah played a key role in helping the Bashar al-Assad regime reclaim Aleppo from the opposition groups. The Syrian army, tired, ill-equipped and divided, could hardly have advanced without the support of Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, in addition to Russia’s air campaign. Eight years later, however, Iran and its proxies have considerably reduced their presence in Syria, not only because of the many Israeli — and sometimes even American — airstrikes, but also because they have redeployed to higher-priority fronts through which to confront Israel: Gaza and, above all, Lebanon. This is one of the reasons why, after four years of a status quo increasingly to their disadvantage, the rebels were able to drive the Assad regime out of Syria’s second-largest city in just three days, before moving on to attack Hama, further...
In 2016, Hezbollah played a key role in helping the Bashar al-Assad regime reclaim Aleppo from the opposition groups. The Syrian army, tired, ill-equipped and divided, could hardly have advanced without the support of Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, in addition to Russia’s air campaign. Eight years later, however, Iran and its proxies have considerably reduced their presence in Syria, not only because of the many Israeli — and sometimes even American — airstrikes, but also because they have redeployed to higher-priority fronts through which to confront Israel: Gaza and, above all, Lebanon. This is one of the reasons why, after four years of a status quo increasingly to their disadvantage, the rebels were able to drive the Assad regime out of Syria’s second-largest city in just three days, before moving on to attack Hama,...