TEHRAN/AMMAN/BEIRUT - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday highlighted the necessity to cooperate to help the Syrian government in its fight against the "terrorist" groups in its territory.

In a phone call, the two sides described the recent actions by the "terrorists" in northern Syria as a serious threat against the stability and security of the Arab state and the West Asia region, according to a statement published on the website of the Iranian president's office.

Pezeshkian said while the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday had revived hopes for restoring calm to the region, the "terrorist" groups' action in northern Syria once again placed the region on a state of alert.

Pezeshkian said Iran maintained that the recent events were part of the "dangerous" US-Israeli plot to manipulate the region's political geography in Israel's favor.

He hailed Russia's "valuable" role in ensuring peace and stability in the West Asia region and its support for Syria's territorial integrity, noting that Iran is ready for any cooperation with Russia in this regard.

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The Russian president, for his part, said his country fully agreed with Iran's assessments of the recent events in northern Syria.

He stressed that Russia believed the "terrorists" were not the main decision-makers behind the ongoing developments in northern Syria, but their supporters.

He added that Moscow was determined to work with Iran to assist Syria's official and legitimate government in its fight against the "terrorist" groups.

Putin assured that his country would use all available diplomatic capacities and channels to control the situation and prevent the spread of terrorism in the region.

Since Wednesday, Syrian rebel groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have launched a major offensive in northern Syria aiming to penetrate government-held territories. 

Deadly strikes

Syria's civil war had been frozen since 2020, with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in control of most territory and all major cities. Rebels still held an enclave in the northwest.

Russia, whose 2015 entry into the conflict turned the military balance decisively in Assad's favour, continues to support him and is analysing the situation on the ground, the Kremlin said.

The Syrian government said Syrian and Russian air forces were striking rebel-held positions in the countryside east of Aleppo city.

The White Helmets rescue organization and residents of rebel-held areas in the north said warplanes had hit residential areas of Aleppo city and a displaced people's camp in Idlib province where seven people were killed, including five children.

The government said the military was working to secure a string of towns recaptured from rebels on Sunday that run along the front line north of Hama, a major city lying between Aleppo and Damascus. Rebel shelling of Hama killed three people on Monday, state television said.

The Syrian government said it had killed hundreds of rebel fighters in recent days, which Reuters could not independently confirm.

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Iraqi fighters head to Syria

Separately, hundreds of Iraqi fighters crossed into Syria on Monday to help the government fight rebels, but Lebanon's Hezbollah has no plans for now to join them, according to sources.

At least 300 fighters, primarily from Iraq's Badr and Nujabaa groups, crossed late on Sunday using a dirt road to avoid the official border crossing, two Iraqi security sources said, adding that they were there to defend a Shi'ite shrine.

A senior Syrian military source said the fighters had crossed in small groups to avoid airstrikes. "These are fresh reinforcements being sent to aid our comrades on the front lines in the north," the source said.

The head of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces, which includes the major Shi'ite militia groups aligned with Iran, said no group under its umbrella had entered Syria, and that it does not operate outside Iraq.