Middle East Eye reports:

Iraq’s Shia forces, including major Iranian-affiliated armed factions, have unanimously decided not to send fighters to Syria to defend Bashar al-Assad from the rebel advance, officials and commanders told Middle East Eye.

Last week, Syrian rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham launched an offensive on Assad’s forces, seizing the major cities of Aleppo and Hama in a matter of days.

The advance, which is now bearing down on Homs, has greatly concerned Iraqi leaders, who consider Iraq’s security as inextricably linked to Syria’s.

Baghdad fears a repeat of 2014, when Islamic State group fighters swept into northern and western Iraq from Syria, killing and displacing tens of thousands of people. [Continue reading…]