Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (The Nujaba Movement or HHN is a radical Iraqi Shi’ite paramilitary group that is especially active in Syria and Iraq. It was established in 2013 by Akram al-Kaabi to support Bashar al-Assad in Syria against Islamist rebels. The group is supported by the IRGC‘s Quds Force, which provides the funding, weapons, and training of its members.
A powerful Iraqi Shiite faction aligned with Iran has vowed to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad‘s forces as they struggle in the face of a large-scale surprise offensive launched by Syrian rebels that have already seized parts of the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo.
The rebel operation, being referred to variously as “Deterrence of Aggression” and “Dawn of Freedom,” was first launched Wednesday by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as the Nusra Front, and other opposition factions, including the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army group. By Friday, rebels had entered the key city of Aleppo and appeared to be extending their attacks south toward the city of Hama on Saturday.
The developments mark the largest shifts of territorial control in Syria’s ongoing civil war in years. The events also come amid another regional war being fought between Israel and the Iran-led Axis of Resistance since the Palestinian Hamas movement launched a surprise attack against Israel last October.
As clashes continue to erupt in Syria just days after a ceasefire was reached between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the Nujaba Movement, an Iraqi militia with experience conducting operations during Syria’s civil war and the ongoing battle against Israel, has expressed its willingness to mobilize in support of Assad.
“Our position was and still is unified in the unity of the arenas and the Axis of Resistance in standing against any attack that could be directed at the region,” Nujaba Movement spokesperson Hussein al-Musawi told Newsweek.
He portrayed the sudden insurgent offensive as serving the interests of the United States and Israel to further divide the Iran-aligned coalition.
“We were and still are fully aware that the Zionist and American plan and those with them will always seek to destabilize the region under various flimsy pretexts and excuses,” Musawi said.
He added: “We also realize that the movement of the armed terrorist groups, which are a creation of America and according to the White House’s own confessions, are moving according to American will and wanted to open this front to relieve pressure on Israel and distract the international community with more tensions and cover up the failure and great loss suffered by Israel and those with it and distract the Axis of Resistance by opening new fronts.”
In Iraq, the Axis of Resistance is represented by an umbrella of militias operating under the collective banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. A number of these groups now launching rockets and drones against Israel and U.S. troops in Iraq and neighboring Syria previously fought insurgents, including the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and HTS.
Now, Musawi said “we will not allow these groups to appear again and threaten the security and stability of Iraq.”
He continued: “We will be the best supporter and helper of the brotherly Syrian people against these criminal gangs that want to tamper with the security and stability of the people
Newsweek has reached out to Hezbollah, the Iranian and Syrian Permanent Missions to the United Nations, the Iraqi government, the IDF, the Russian Embassy to the U.S., the Syrian Democratic Forces, U.S. Central Command and the U.S. State Department for comment.
As Syrian insurgents stormed Aleppo on Friday, the IDF said it had “conducted an intelligence-based strike on military infrastructure sites adjacent to border crossings between Syria and Lebanon that were actively used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon.”
There was no immediate mention of any connection to the developments in northern Syria. The IDF has regularly conducted airstrikes against alleged Iran-linked positions and Syrian air defenses.
Officials in Washington had also been largely silent on the rebel offensive, which coincided with the Thanksgiving holiday break in the U.S. The White House later issued a statement on Saturday that blamed Assad for its “refusal to engage in the political process outlined in UNSCR [U.N. Security Council resolution] 2254, and its reliance on Russia and Iran,” while also acknowledging that HTS was a U.S.-designated terrorist organization..”
“The United States, together with its partners and allies, urge de-escalation, protection of civilians and minority groups, and a serious and credible political process that can end this civil war once and for all with a political settlement consistent with UNSCR 2254,” National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said.
He added: “We will also continue to fully defend and protect U.S. personnel and U.S. military positions, which remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never again resurge in Syria.”
Iranian, Russian and Turkish officials have been engaged in a flurry of high-level diplomacy amid the rebel advances as Russian warplanes conducted airstrikes against insurgent positions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was set to visit Damascus on Sunday, according to his ministry. Iranian media also reported on the death of a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which coordinates ties with Axis of Resistance factions in the region, during the insurgent attack on Aleppo on Wednesday.
Assad was in Moscow at the time of the offensive but has reportedly returned to Damascus. He held phone conversations with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Saturday.
Both leaders offered their support for Assad, who said during the latter call that his government “continues defending its territorial integrity against terrorists and their supporters and is able with the help of its friends and allies to defeat and destroy them.”
That same day, the Syrian Defense Ministry refuted reports of further rebel gains in towns beyond Aleppo and affirmed that Syrian troops were reorganizing to conduct a counterattack in a series of statements.
“The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces confirms that the process of confronting the terrorist attack is proceeding with full success and determination,” the ministry said, “and that a counterattack will soon be moved to reclaim all areas and liberate them from the filth of terrorism.”
Also involved in the fray is the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group that controls the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria spanning nearly a third of the country. The SDF has alternatively clashed with the Syrian military and its allies and cooperated with them, with both sides viewing jihadi groups such as HTS and Turkey-backed factions such as the Syrian National Army as mutual foes.
In a statement issued Friday, SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami accused Turkey of orchestrating the rebel offensive and signaled a willingness to intervene if necessary.
“The plan of the attack on northwestern Syria has been devised by the Turkish occupation which intends to execute its schemes with the collaboration of the Al-Nusra Front,” Shami said. “This attack is managed step by step by Turkey and to fully comprehend this process, it is crucial to see Turkey’s role.”
He added: “The developments in northwestern Syria are sensitive, and we directly care about them and closely monitor them. Whatever happens, our national and moral priority remains the defense of our people and our regions. Therefore, we will intervene as necessary to defend our people.”
The U.S. has supported the SDF as its local vanguard against ISIS since 2015, previously lending its aid to various insurgents that first took up arms against Assad in 2011 after anti-government protests and crackdowns by security forces devolved into civil war. Around 1,000 U.S. troops remain in SDF-held northeastern Syria and in a southwestern desert garrison manned by the rebel Syrian Free Army faction.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly criticized the U.S. relationship with the SDF as Ankara views the group to be an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). While the official focus of U.S. operations in Syria has been the fight against ISIS, the U.S. also considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization.
Throughout his administration, President Joe Biden has also ordered several rounds of airstrikes against Iran-backed groups participating in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq operating on behalf of the Axis of Resistance in Iraq and Syria in response to attacks against U.S. troops.
Iraq-based militias have repeatedly threatened to escalate attacks against U.S. personnel and bases if the U.S. did not withdraw its troops from Iraq.