Regional
Iraqi fighters head to Syria to battle rebels but Lebanon’s Hezbollah stays out
Iran’s constellation of allied regional militia groups, aided by Russian air power, has been integral to the success of pro-government forces in subduing rebels in Syria who rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011
Hundreds of Iran-backed Iraqi fighters crossed into Syria on Monday to help the government fight rebels who seized Aleppo last week, but Lebanon’s Hezbollah has no plans for now to join them, according to sources.
Iran’s constellation of allied regional militia groups, aided by Russian air power, has been integral to the success of pro-government forces in subduing rebels in Syria who rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, Reuters reported.
But that alliance faces a new test after last week’s lightning advance by rebels in northwest Syria, with Russia focused on war in Ukraine and Hezbollah’s leadership decimated by a war with Israel that ended in a ceasefire last week.
The rebel storm of Aleppo is the biggest success of anti-Assad fighters for years.
Government forces had held complete control of Aleppo since capturing what was then Syria’s largest city in a siege in 2016, one of the major turning points of a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The head of Syria’s main opposition group abroad, Hadi al-Bahra, told Reuters the rebels were able to seize the city so quickly because Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups were distracted by their conflict with Israel.
Preparations had been made since last year for an assault on Aleppo, but it was held up by the war in Gaza, he said.
Syria’s civil war had been frozen since 2020, with Assad in control of most territory and all major cities.
Rebels still held an enclave in the northwest, Turkey-backed forces held a strip along the northern border and U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led forces controlled a pocket in the northeast.
Any prolonged escalation in Syria risks further destabilising a region roiled by the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, with millions of Syrians already displaced and with regional and global powers backing rival forces in the country, Reuters reported.
Iraqi and Syrian sources confirmed the deployment of more Iran-backed Iraqi fighters to Syria. Iran’s Foreign Minister said Tehran “will provide any support needed” and that “resistance groups” would come to Assad’s aid.
Russia, whose 2015 entry into the conflict turned the military balance decisively in Assad’s favour, continues to support him and is analysing the situation on the ground, the Kremlin said.
On Sunday Moscow dismissed the general in charge of its forces in Syria, Russian war bloggers reported.
The Syrian government said Syrian and Russian air forces were striking rebel-held positions in the countryside east of Aleppo city.
The White Helmets rescue organisation and residents of rebel-held areas in the north said warplanes had hit residential areas of Aleppo city and a displaced people’s camp in Idlib province where seven people were killed, including five children.
The Syrian government said it had killed hundreds of rebel fighters in recent days, which Reuters could not independently confirm.
The rebels fighting in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama provinces in northwest Syria include mainstream groups backed by Turkey as well as the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.
A Turkish official told Reuters Turkey had not given any permission for the rebel offensive, and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took no instructions from Turkey.
The Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers discussed the fighting in Syria on Monday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said rebel advances could not be explained by foreign intervention and urged the Syrian opposition to compromise.
A spokesperson for Israel’s military said it would not let Iran exploit the Syria conflict to transfer weapons to Hezbollah.
Regional
UNICEF reports 70 children killed in West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2025
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 70 children have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territories excluding Gaza since the beginning of 2025, averaging about one child per week.
UNICEF also reported that more than 800 children have been injured in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the same period. According to the agency, most of those killed or injured were struck by live ammunition, while others were stabbed, beaten, or exposed to pepper spray.
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said the cases reflect “a sustained pattern of the worst kind of violations against children” during a briefing in Geneva following a visit to the West Bank.
The agency stated that 93% of the children killed since January 2025 were reportedly killed by Israeli forces, while others were killed in settler attacks, by unexploded ordnance, or in incidents involving Palestinian forces.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the report.
Human rights organizations have previously reported an increase in violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers and security forces since 2023.
Regional
Trump rejects Iran’s response to US peace proposal as ‘unacceptable’
President Donald Trump’s swift rejection of Iran’s response to a U.S. peace proposal sent oil prices surging higher on Monday amid concerns the 10-week-old conflict will drag on, keeping shipping through the Strait of Hormuz paralyzed.
Days after the U.S. floated an offer in the hopes of re-opening negotiations, Iran on Sunday released a response focused on ending the war on all fronts, especially Lebanon, where U.S. ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Tehran also included a demand for compensation for war damages and emphasized Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state TV said, Reuters reported.
It also called on the U.S. to end its naval blockade, guarantee no further attacks, lift sanctions and end a U.S. ban on Iranian oil sales, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
Within hours, Trump dismissed Iran’s proposal with a post on social media.
“I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without giving further detail.
The U.S. had proposed an end to fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
Oil prices jumped $3 a barrel on Monday following news of the continued stalemate that leaves the narrow Strait of Hormuz largely closed. Before the war the waterway carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and has emerged as one of the central pressure points in the war.
Surveys show the war is unpopular with U.S. voters facing sharply higher gasoline prices less than six months before nationwide elections that will determine whether Trump’s Republican party retains control of Congress.
The U.S. has also found little international support, with NATO allies refusing calls to send ships to open the Strait of Hormuz without a full peace deal and an internationally mandated mission.
It’s not clear what fresh diplomatic or military steps may be ahead.
Trump is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday. With mounting pressure to draw a line under the war and the global energy crisis it has ignited, Iran is among topics Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to discuss.
Trump has been leaning on China to use its influence to push Tehran to make a deal with Washington.
Addressing whether combat operations against Iran were over, Trump said in remarks aired on Sunday: “They are defeated, but that doesn’t mean they’re done.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war was not over because there was “more work to be done” to remove enriched uranium from Iran, dismantle enrichment sites and address Iran’s proxies and ballistic missile capabilities.
The best way to remove the enriched uranium would be through diplomacy, Netanyahu said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.” But he did not rule out removing it by force.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post that Iran would “never bow down to the enemy” and would “defend national interests with strength.”
Despite diplomatic efforts to break a deadlock, the threat to shipping lanes and the economies of the region remained high.
Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the strait since a ceasefire began.
On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two drones coming from Iran, while Qatar condemned a drone attack that hit a cargo ship coming from Abu Dhabi in its waters. Kuwait said its air defences had dealt with hostile drones that entered its airspace.
Clashes have also continued in southern Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced on April 16.
An end to hostilities with Iran would not necessarily bring an end to the war in Lebanon, Netanyahu said in the “60 Minutes” interview, in which he also said Israeli planners had underestimated Iran’s ability to choke off traffic through the Hormuz Strait.
“It took a while for them to understand how big that risk is, which they understand now,” he said.
Regional
Fourteen Pakistani police officers killed in KP car bombing and shootout
The death toll from a suicide attack on a security post in northwest Pakistan rose to 14 police officers, authorities said early Sunday.
A suicide bomber and several gunmen detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the post in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, late Saturday, said senior police official Sajjad Khan. The attack triggered an intense shootout, and some officers were killed in the exchange, while others died later after the building collapsed, the Associated Press reported.
Rescuers conducted an hourslong search operation using heavy machinery to retrieve bodies from under the rubble, Khan said, adding that three police officers were wounded in the attack.
Security forces have also launched an operation to track down the perpetrators.
A newly formed militant group, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
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