Iraqi militias deployed in Syria to back government counteroffensive
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/AP24336611388470.jpg.webp?itok=FeSgHzLh)
IRAQI militias have deployed in Syria to back the government’s counteroffensive against a surprise advance by insurgents who seized part of the largest city of Aleppo, a militia official and a war monitor said today.
Insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo last week and moved into the countryside around Idlib and neighbouring Hama province.
Government troops built a fortified defensive line in northern Hama in an attempt to stall the insurgents’ momentum while jets on Sunday destroyed large sections of insurgent-held lines.
More from this author
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/11malcolmx.jpg.webp?itok=fklMJ9Cg)
ROGER McKENZIE looks back 60 years to the assassination of Malcolm X, whose message that black people have worth resonated so strongly with him growing up in Walsall in the 1980s
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/africa%20web.jpg.webp?itok=HbCXZ1El)
ROGER McKENZIE welcomes an important contribution to the history of Africa, telling the story in its own right rather than in relation to Europeans
Similar stories
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/AP24338759260089.jpg.webp?itok=Db3YYRGF)
But a jihadist group claims to have captured more Syrian troops and allied fighters in fierce battles