Syria's Allies Are Stretched by Widening War - Lebanon's Hezbollah and Other Shiite Fighters Are Drawn Away by Sunni Rebellion in Iraq, Palestinians' Clash With Israel

From The Wall Street Journal:

SEYDA ZEINAB, Syria—The Lebanese movement Hezbollah, facing a heavy strain on its resources, is recruiting more fighters in Syria and bringing in fresh but inexperienced forces from Lebanon to shore up Bashar al-Assad's regime.

 

In the past year, Hezbollah's battle-tested fighters helped Syrian forces retake territory around the capital Damascus and other key cities such as Homs and Aleppo, paving the way for Mr. Assad to win a third, seven-year term as president in elections last month.

 

But Hezbollah members and people involved in the group's operations in Syria said the militant group is now stretched thin by two conflicts involving its Shiite allies that threaten to erode, if not undo, its successes in Syria.

 

A Sunni rebellion against the Shiite-dominated government in neighboring Iraq is drawing home Iraqi Shiites who have been fighting alongside Hezbollah in Syria, according to pro-government militiamen in Syria.

 

On Monday, Islamic State, the extremist group leading the fresh insurgency in Iraq, captured more territory in Syria by routing rival rebel factions from the city of Deir-Ezzour, according to Syrian activists and a spokesman for the rebel umbrella group known as the Free Syrian Army. The city is the seat of the resource-rich province of Deir-Ezzour bordering Iraq and the conquest gave Islamic State control of nearly 80% of the province.

 

The confrontation between Palestinian militants, whom Hezbollah regards as allies, and Israel, now entering its second week, also raises the potential for fresh violence along Lebanon's southern border with Israel, where Hezbollah has claimed the role of a national resistance force.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based opposition group monitoring the conflict, estimated last week that 509 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Syria since the civil war started in March 2011. While the total is a fraction of the estimated 100,000 government and opposition forces who, according to the Observatory, have been killed in the civil war, many are among Hezbollah's most elite fighters.

During a recent visit to a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of Damascus, the effects of the accumulating losses were temporarily obscured by the unstinting enthusiasm of a group of children, some as young as 5 years old, standing at the shrine's entrance.

They stood in military formation at the entrance of the golden-domed mausoleum and mosque where Shiites believe the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter Zeinab is entombed. "Who are you?" the instructors shouted. "Hezbollah!" the children bellowed back.

But nearby, hanging from lampposts and plastered on walls, was evidence of the costs to Hezbollah of its decision to enlist on the side of Mr. Assad: posters commemorating the Lebanese, Iraqi and Syrian Shiite fighters who have been killed in recent battles with rebels fighting to oust the regime.

Among the honored is Mustafa Ayoub, a Lebanese Hezbollah commander also known by his nom de guerre Abu Turab. He was killed in May during a government offensive to uproot rebels from the town of Mleha on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, said Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria.

"He was part of the first batch of elite Hezbollah fighters sent to Syria—incredible modesty and discipline," recalled Ali al-Tasht, a 27-year-old Syrian.

"Now when you see a Lebanese [fighter], the difference is huge. We nickname them 'Hezb-pizza' or 'Hezb-kabob,' " said Mr. Tasht, referring to their fondness for fast food.

After Mr. Tasht and about 115 other Syrian Shiites under Hezbollah's command joined Syrian security forces in the battle for Mleha, he was surprised at what he saw as the greenness and naiveté of the recent Hezbollah recruits from Lebanon and their lack of arms and equipment.

"One Lebanese guy told me the battle would be over in 10 days. He was martyred five days later," said Mr. Tasht, who was wounded in Mleha and suffers partial paralysis in the left side of his body.

In interviews with Mr. Tasht and several other fighters affiliated to Hezbollah, a portrait emerged of a movement trying to readjust its posture in Syria as it faces challenges elsewhere. A Syrian who has frequent contact with Hezbollah commanders and fighters in Damascus said the war in Syria is costing the movement some of its most experienced men.

Mr. Ayoub, for example, was the "best sniper in the Middle East—this guy survived for 11 days in an area where not even rats would have remained alive," the man said.

In fighting near the Lebanese-Syrian border with the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and other rebels over the weekend, at least seven Hezbollah fighters were killed and 31 others wounded, according to the Observatory.

Attempts to reach a Hezbollah spokesman in Beirut were unsuccessful. A member of Lebanon's parliament representing the movement's political wing also declined to comment.

There was no comment from Hezbollah. But a Lebanese news website that reports frequently on the movement identified six fighters it said were "martyred" in clashes with Syrian "opposition militias" over the weekend in the Qalamoun area near Syria's border with Lebanon.

Amin Hoteit, a retired Lebanese Army general who has close ties to Hezbollah, said the group was still sending fighters to Syria and so far, its losses were in the "realm of the manageable."

Still, efforts are quietly under way to compensate for the losses. Hezbollah has increased its recruiting inside Syria, according to Shiite fighters and clerics. The recruits receive training from Hezbollah both in Syria and Iran, and many are initially assigned to help guard areas recently captured from antigovernment rebels, these sources said.

Also, to fill the gap created by the shutdown of the Shiite pipeline from Iraq, Iran is deploying Shiites from Afghanistan and elsewhere to Syria, Afghans in Iran and Syria said. Some were recently seen dressed in military fatigues and praying at the Seyda Zeinab shrine.

For now Hezbollah, Iran and its other allies in their self-described "axis of resistance" say they are confident in their ability to recruit Shiite fighters by framing the current regional conflict as an existential struggle between Shiites on the one hand, and Sunni extremists backed by Israel, the U.S. and regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, on the other.

Ayman Taha, a 30-year-old electrician from a Shiite village near Homs who lives in Seyda Zeinab, said he joined Hezbollah in Syria after his brother Jaafar, 14 years his junior and a member of the movement, was killed by a rebel sniper. His resolve is unbending.

"When you stand for a righteous cause, you will prevail," he said. "In the end it is an attack on Shiites."