BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government forces gained ground Tuesday in a new offensive that threatened to cut off the main supply route to insurgents in the divided northern city of Aleppo, renewing their push to encircle and besiege opposition-held areas there.
The advance — said by insurgents and residents to be bolstered by fighters from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite paramilitary group — came just after Hezbollah declared that it was fighting not only in Syria but also in Iraq, a further geographical and strategic expansion of its military expeditions abroad.
The two developments bolstered a sense of confidence on the part of President Bashar al-Assad and his allies as the United Nations’ Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, prepared to brief the Security Council on his efforts to broker a freeze in fighting in Aleppo and eventually a political settlement.
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“In the best-case scenario, if the United States wanted to finish this, they will not be in a hurry until after the next presidential elections,” he said.
He noted that in Iraq, “they didn’t wait,” but banded together, using weapons that he said came not from the United States but from Iran.
Karam Shoumali contributed reporting from Istanbul, and Hwaida Saad and Mohammad Ghannam from Beirut.
