Hundreds of fighters from Iran-backed Iraqi militias crossed into Syria overnight to help the government fight rebels who seized Aleppo last week, Syrian and Iraqi sources said on Monday, and Tehran pledged to aid the Damascus government.
At least 300 fighters, primarily from the Badr and Nujabaa groups, crossed late on Sunday using a dirt road to avoid the official border crossing, two Iraqi security sources said, adding that they were there to defend a Shi’ite shrine.
A senior Syrian military source said the fighters had crossed in small groups to avoid air strikes. “These are fresh reinforcements being sent to aid our comrades on the front lines in the north,” the source said.
The head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces said no group under its umbrella had entered Syria, and that it does not operate outside Iraq.
Iran’s constellation of allied regional militia groups has long been integral to …