2011–2012 Hezbollah had long been an ally of the
Ba'athist government of Syria, ruled by the
Assad family. Hezbollah helped the Ba'athist regime during the
Syrian civil war in its fight against the
Syrian opposition, which Hezbollah described as a "plot to destroy its alliance with al-Assad against Israel".
Geneive Abdo opined that Hezbollah's support for al-Assad in the Syrian war had "transformed" it from a group with "support among the Sunni for defeating Israel in a battle in 2006" into a "strictly Shia paramilitary force". In August 2012, the United States sanctioned Hezbollah for its alleged role in the war. General Secretary
Hassan Nasrallah denied Hezbollah had been fighting on behalf of the Syrian government, stating on 12 October 2012 that "right from the start the Syrian opposition has been telling the media that Hezbollah sent 3,000 fighters to Syria, which we have denied". However, according to the Lebanese
Daily Star newspaper, Nasrallah said in the same speech that Hezbollah fighters helped the Syrian government "retain control of some 23 strategically located villages [in Syria] inhabited by Shiites of Lebanese citizenship". Nasrallah said that Hezbollah fighters died in Syria doing their "jihadist duties". In 2013, Hezbollah fighters crossed the border from Lebanon and took over eight villages in the
Al-Qusayr District of Syria. On 16–17 February 2013, Syrian opposition groups claimed that Hezbollah, backed by the Syrian military, attacked three neighboring Sunni villages controlled by the
Free Syrian Army (FSA). An FSA spokesman said, "Hezbollah's
invasion is the first of its kind in terms of organisation, planning and coordination with the Syrian regime's
air force". Hezbollah said three Lebanese Shiites, "acting in self-defense", were killed in the clashes with the FSA. Lebanese security sources said that the three were Hezbollah members. In response, the FSA allegedly attacked two Hezbollah positions on 21 February; one in Syria and one in Lebanon. Five days later, it said it destroyed a convoy carrying Hezbollah fighters and Syrian officers to Lebanon, killing all the passengers. The leaders of the
March 14 alliance and other prominent Lebanese figures called on Hezbollah to end its involvement in Syria and said it is putting Lebanon at risk.
Subhi al-Tufayli, Hezbollah's former leader, said "Hezbollah should not be defending the criminal regime that kills its own people and that has never fired a shot in defense of the Palestinians". He said "those Hezbollah fighters who are killing children and terrorizing people and destroying houses in Syria will go to hell". The Consultative Gathering, a group of Shia and Sunni leaders in
Baalbek-
Hermel, also called on Hezbollah not to "interfere" in Syria. They said, "Opening a front against the Syrian people and dragging Lebanon to war with the Syrian people is very dangerous and will have a negative impact on the relations between the two". According to the
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, support for Hezbollah among the Syrian public has weakened since the involvement of Hezbollah and Iran in propping up the Assad regime during the civil war. According to the U.S., the
National Defence Forces (NDF), an Assad loyalist pro-government
paramilitary militia and
auxiliary force, was created in late 2012 and was maintained by Hezbollah and the
Qods Force, the elite special forces branch of Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), both of whom supplied the NDF with money, weapons, training and advice.
2013 On 4 April 2013, Hezbollah with the Syrian army
launched an offensive to retake part of Qusayr. Syrian Army forces with the help of Hezbollah and the National Defense Forces captured Qusayr extinguishing final rebel resistance after two months of fighting. On 25 May 2013, Nasrallah announced that Hezbollah is fighting in the
Syrian Civil War against
Islamic extremists and "pledged that his group will not allow Syrian militants to control areas that border Lebanon". He confirmed that Hezbollah was fighting in the strategic Syrian town of Al-Qusayr on the same side as
Assad's forces. On 26 May 2013, two rockets hit a Hezbollah area of Beirut injuring five people whilst another two rockets caused property damage to buildings in the al-Hermel district of Beirut. Syrian rebels have been blamed for the attack as they had promised to attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in retaliation for their helping the Syrian army particularly in the border town of
Al-Qusayr. Syrian rebels have also shelled al-Hermel previously. On 28 May 2013,
Free Syrian Army General
Salim Idris gave Hezbollah "24 hours to withdraw from Syria" or he may order FSA units to attack Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. In early June 2013, Hezbollah committed some 2,000 fighters to the
battle in Aleppo, reportedly putting strain on the organisation. Hezbollah changed the rotation policy for its fighters from 7 days fighting followed by 7 days leave, to 20 days fighting followed by 7 days leave. In June 2013,
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi officially demanded the enforcement of a
no-fly zone in Syria and condemned Hezbollah by saying, "We stand against
Hezbollah in its aggression against the
Syrian people. Hezbollah must leave Syria – these are serious words. There is no space or place for Hezbollah in Syria."
2014 In 2014, Hezbollah's involvement was steady and staunch in support of the Syrian government forces across Syria. Israelí media claimed that given that Hezbollah's military involvement faced battles are with Muslims, Hezbollah had emphasized its readiness to wage war against Israel. In May 2015, Hezbollah forces launches
a new offensive in the Qalamoun region in Rif DImashq Governorate, supported by the
Syrian Army with the aim of clearing
al-Nusra Front and other
Syrian opposition forces entrenched in the mountains of the
Qalamoun region.
2016 Hezbollah began its participation in the
Siege of Deir ez-Zor in 2016. In May, Hezbollah's top military commander in Syria,
Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in murky circumstances near the Damascus International Airport.
2017 Hezbollah participated in the
East Aleppo offensive (January–April 2017) and in the
Battle of al-Bab against ISIL in February 2017. Hezbollah played a significant role in the
Daraa offensive (February–June 2017), with several casualties. In April, rebels reported that an SAA lieutenant Colonel was executed by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia over charges of ‘treason’ in al-Manshiya. In the
March 2017 Israel–Syria incident, Israel took responsibility for an airstrike in Syria on a military site near
Palmyra that they said was targeting Hezbollah. The Syrian Arab Army reportedly launched
S-200 missiles at the Israeli jets, and Israel intercepted one S-200 missile with an
Arrow 2 missile. The April 2017 Rif Dimashq airstrike was an aerial attack on an arms depot belonging to the
Lebanese Shi'a militia
Hezbollah. On 27 April 2017, Syria's state-run SANA news agency said that there was an explosion felt in
Damascus International Airport at 3:42 am. No casualties were reported. The blast was reportedly felt away. Israeli media said residents in the northern town of
Safed reported seeing two missiles being launched and explosions occurring afterwards. Witnesses said a total of five strikes occurred near the airport road. The missiles were so powerful that the impact was felt several kilometres away in the Damascus countryside. According to
Al-Manar Television, the
Israel Air Force reportedly attacked an Iranian arms depot near the
Damascus International Airport early Thursday morning. Various sources have mentioned that the attack was executed around 03:20
EEST. The spokesman for the
Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the airstrike. Two rebel sources told Reuters that "five strikes hit an ammunition depot used by Iran-backed militias." Iranian Defense Minister
Hossein Dehghan told
Rossiya-24 news channel that
Israel "should be disarmed" for the sake of restoring peace and security in the region and that it had [pursued] nothing but war and bloodshed. Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov called for all countries to refrain any kind of actions and respect of Syrian sovereignty in a press conference. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova later slammed the strikes by condemning it as an act of aggression against Syria. On 1 June 2017, it was reported on social media that 3 Hezbollah members, including a Lebanese Hezbollah Field Commander Abdel Hamid Mahmoud Shri (nicknamed Abu Mahdi), had been killed by FSA and ISIS in battles for control of the desert between Syria and Iraq. The same month, Hezbollah participated in the
Daraa offensive (June 2017). On 21 July 2017, Hezbollah and the Syrian army launched an
offensive against
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the area of Juroud Arsal, on the outskirts of the Lebanese town of
Arsal, aiming to drive HTS fighters from their last foothold along the Syria-Lebanon border. The offensive was undertaken on two fronts: near Arsal and the Syrian town of
Fleita, into a mountainous area where Islamist militants had taken shelter among camps for Syrian refugees. In the summer and autumn of 2017, Hezbollah played a major role in the pro-government
Central Syria campaign (2017). In October, its al-Radhwan forces commander Ali al-Aa'shiq was reported to have been killed by ISIL, along with other Hezbollah fighters, in this campaign. In September 2017, a Hezbollah commander said the group has 10,000 fighters in southern Syria ready to confront Israel. In November 2017, Hezbollah spearheaded the
pro-government capture of
Abu Kamal from ISIL. In November–December 2017, Hezbollah played a leading role in the
Beit Jinn offensive against rebel forces close to the Golan.
2018 In June 2018, Israeli and Syrian opposition media reported that a senior Hezbollah field officer executed 23 Syrian soldiers from the
9th Armoured Division after they refused to cross a bridge which was exposed to rebel fire, and was nicknamed the "Death Bridge", near the town of Hirbat Ghazala, north of the city of Daraa.
2019 In early July, Hezbollah began to withdraw from Damascus suburbs and south Syria back to Lebanon. == Analysis ==