PHOTO: Funeral of a Hezbollah fighter killed in Syria

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Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that the Lebanese organization will send more fighters to battlefronts near Syria’s largest city Aleppo, where rebels and Jabhat al-Nusra have advanced against pro-Assad forces.

Nasrallah declared in a televised speech:

We are facing a new wave, or a new stage, of projects of war against Syria which are being waged in northern Syria, particularly in the Aleppo region.

The defense of Aleppo is the defense of the rest of Syria. It is the defense of Damascus. It is also the defense of Lebanon, and of Iraq.

Hezbollah, vital in the defense of the Assad regime, had redeployed its fighters in March from the Aleppo battlefronts to southern Syria.

However, rebels and Jabhat al-Nusra have overrun Iranian-led positions south of Aleppo over the past three months and pro-Assad forces have struggled to claim territory to the north, closing off the main route to opposition-held areas of the city.

Nasrallah implicitly referred to the setbacks: “The ongoing battle in Aleppo is set to be a new chance for the American-Saudi-Takfiri project to reach a certain achievement and to [diminish] the victories made by the Syrian army and allies.”

A Troubled Redeployment

Hezbollah’s redeployment has not gone smoothly. Pro-opposition accounts said dozens of fighters were killed last week, both by rebel attacks and by an errant strike by Russian warplanes.

In a rare admission of casualties, Nasrallah said 26 Hezbollah troops had been killed since the beginning of June.

The Hezbollah leader portrayed the losses as a necessary sacrifice against foreign powers, converting the unsuccessful pro-Assad offensives north of Aleppo city into an invasion by the regime’s opponents: “After they failed to reach Damascus from Lebanon, Jordan and the eastern front, Saudi Arabia and Turkey dispatched thousands of militants in a bid to launch an offensive from the northern front.”

He criticized a February 27 cessation of hostilities, brokered by the US and Russia, saying that it allowed rebels to regroup against the regime-Iranian-Hezbollah offensives — enabled by Russian airstrikes — that had gained territory since the autumn:”The terrorist axis was about to collapse before the US and the UN Security Council imposed on Russia the ceasefire which was utilized by the terrorists to renew their attacks.”

Nasrallah said any claims of large Hezbollah losses were “rumors and lies in the context of psychological warfare”. He then proclaimed that 617 “terrorists” had been killed and 800 wounded, with 90 tanks and vehicles destroyed.

Nasrallah was speaking for the 40th-day ceremony of the death of Hezbollah’s commander in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine.

Badreddine was killed in an attack near Damascus in mid-May. It is still unclear who carried out the assassination.

Claimed Video: Pro-Assad Forces Retreat After Latest Failed Attack North of Aleppo

Claimed footage of pro-Assad forces retreating after their failed attack in the Handarat area, north of Aleppo city, this week:

The Syrian military, Iranian units, Hezbollah fighters, and Palestinian, Iraqi, and Afghan militia — all supported by Russian airstrikes — have tried for months to close the road near Handarat, a major route to pro-opposition areas in Aleppo.

Pro-rebel accounts claimed more than 40 attackers were killed in the latest attempt.

UN’s Top Aid Official: Regime Attacks on Besieged Areas “Must End Now”

The UN has raised its estimate of “hard to reach” Syrians to 5 million — almost half the people remaining in the country after more than five years of conflict.

The UN’s head of humanitarian affairs, Stephen O’Brien, told the Security Council on Friday that the number had been raised from 4.1 million because of further insecurity in northern Syria and the Assad regime’s restrictions on access to aid.

O’Brien criticized the regime for the barrel-bombing of Darayya, the besieged town southwest of Damascus, and of the Castello Road, a vital route into opposition-held parts of Aleppo city: He said of the shells and barrel bombs:

Let me repeat: their use in this manner constitutes indiscriminate attacks. Their sole purpose is to terrorize and punish the civilian population. All attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as the indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas, including shelling and aerial bombardment, must end. They must end now.

The official also said he was “gravely concerned” about the situation of 70,000 displaced Syrians trapped near the Jordanian border.

The refugees have been in the informal Ruqban camp for months, after Jordan closed the crossing. Security was further tightened this week after six Jordanian soldiers were killed by assailants.

The refugees have been without food, water, or medical care for day, leading aid agencies to warn of a humanitarian crisis.

Activists: Journalist al-Issa Dies of Injuries from Bombing

Cameraman Khaled al-Issa has died of wounds suffered in a June 15 attack by an improvised explosive device, according to activists.

Issa and reporter Hadi al-Abdallah were injured in the assassination attempt in Aleppo city and taken to a hospital in Turkey.

After pressure from activists, Issa was granted a medical visa for treatment in Germany of abdominal injuries; however, he passed away as he was being prepared for transport.

Issa and al-Abdallah were prominent in frontline reporting on the war through Syria, especially in the northwest. Days before the assassination attempt, they were slightly wounded by barrel bombing near Aleppo.

Issa and friends singing a Revolution song about martyrdom:

UN “Concern” Over Russian Use of Incendiary Bombs

The UN has expressed concern over the Russia’s use of incendiary bombs in northwest Syria, although it said on Friday that it is unable to verify the numerous reports.

“We are concerned about the reports of the use of incendiary weapons in Aleppo, Syria,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said. “We expect that all parties and states involved in the conflict will refrain from their use in this way.”

Multiple videos have shown Russian airstrikes with incendiary munitions and cluster bombs in recent weeks, as Moscow and the Assad regime escalated attacks amid battles near Aleppo city.

On Thursday the opposition High Negotiations Committee called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to launch an investigation.

International conventions prohibit the use of both incendiary and cluster munitions in areas populated by civilians.