A war monitor reported Monday that Hezbollah is withdrawing its fighters from parts of Syria as the Lebanese militia is targeted by heavy attacks from Israel.
Hezbollah and Iran are key allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and have been fighting on his side since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.
Militias loyal to Iran are flocking to the central Syrian city of Palmyra and desert areas to replace departing Hezbollah fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory reported that Hezbollah evacuated its headquarters in Palmyra and withdrew from surrounding areas. The headquarters were reportedly handed over to members of the Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade. Other militias took over weapons depots in the region.
Hezbollah units in Syria have moved to the Syrian-Lebanese border area in recent days, the monitor said, following an escalation in Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Last week, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded. Israeli strikes also hit a Beirut suburb as part of a military campaign targeting senior members of the movement.
On Monday, Israel launched a massive barrage of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, killing at least 356 people and wounding more than 1,200 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday night.
