Iran’s top diplomat to visit Damascus as Syria’s allies rally after fall of Aleppo | Syria

Iran’s top diplomat is expected to go to Damascus in a show of support to the Syrian regime as it attempts to repel the strongest challenge to its authority in years, after a sudden advance by Islamist insurgents in which it seized control of Aleppo.

The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters he would travel on Sunday to Syria to convey the strength of Tehran’s backing for Bashar al-Assad and his rule. Araghchi is expected in the Turkish capital, Ankara, the following day, as Damascus’s allies and opponents scramble to adapt to Assad’s sudden losses in northern Syria.

“We firmly support the Syrian army and government,” he said, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Assad had remained conspicuously absent from public view for several days amid a sudden offensive spearheaded by Islamist militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), who swept through towns and villages across north-western Syria in less than a week before taking control of Aleppo, the country’s second largest city and a former industrial powerhouse.

The embattled Syrian leader reemerged late on Saturday night to conduct a flurry of calls to regional allies in Baghdad and Abu Dhabi, as forces loyal to Damascus appeared to mount a counter-attack. Assad told the Emirati president, Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, that the Syrian government “is capable, with the help of its allies and friends”, of repelling the sudden insurgency.

The regime in Damascus has long relied on foreign support, notably during the 2016 battle to retake control of Aleppo, where Russian air power proved decisive. The Syrian government has also relied heavily on Iranian forces on the ground including members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Israel has rapidly scaled up airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria over the past year amid increasing regional confrontations with Tehran and its proxies.

Assad crushed a popular uprising that rose up against him in 2011, before spilling over into a bloody civil war that has fractured his control of the country and left him heavily dependent on backing from Tehran and Moscow. The Syrian leader also employed airstrikes, siege tactics and chemical weapons against his own people during fierce battles to regain control of territory.

The sudden loss of Aleppo to Islamist militants appeared to rattle Assad’s backers overseas. In a telephone call on Saturday between the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and Araghchi, both “expressed utmost concern over the dangerous escalation in Syria”.

Araghchi also blamed the sudden territorial gains by Islamist militants in Syria’s north-west on the US and Israel with his Syrian counterpart on Friday, claiming they were behind the advance.

The US National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said on Saturday night that Washington was “closely monitoring the situation in Syria and have been in contact over the last 48 hours with regional capitals”.

The Assad regime’s reliance on Russian and Iranian backing created the current instability, he said, “including the collapse of Assad regime lines in north-west Syria”. He added that “the United States has nothing to do with this offensive”, pointing out that HTS was previously designated a terrorist organisation.

Across northern Syria, Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups and Kurdish militias moved to claim territory rapidly evacuated by forces loyal to Damascus, as Syrian government forces retreated from areas they have held for almost a decade.

At the Kuweires airbase, east of Aleppo, video showed Turkish-backed Syrian rebel forces taking control of the base and weaponry there, including an Iranian-made drone.

As insurgents pushed south towards the city of Hama, a concerted counter-attack by the Syrian army appeared to be taking shape. Damascus’s state news agency and pro-government channels shared images purporting to show business as usual inside Hama itself, with civilians crossing streets of traffic and visiting local markets with piles of vegetables on display, as well as a tour by local police forces.

The Syrian defence ministry said it had reinforced defensive lines in the northern Hama countryside to repel a militant advance, after previously promising a counterattack “to recover all regions”, while insurgent forces described fierce battles in the area north of Hama city.

Fighting on the ground was accompanied by a wave of Syrian and Russian airstrikes across opposition-controlled areas, and civil defence forces in Idlib, known as the White Helmets, said an airstrike on Idlib city killed four people and injured 54 others.

Video from the scene showed the aftermath of a strike on a residential neighbourhood, smoke billowing into the air while a car was ablaze outside an apartment building surrounded by rubble.