Destruction in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Photo: YouTube screenshot.

Iranian-backed Shi’ite fighters played a “pivotal role” in the recent offensive in the Syrian city of Aleppo and the consequent humanitarian crisis there, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a report published on Thursday.

The report detailed Tehran’s support for the Assad regime and its involvement in the successful Russian-led military push to oust rebel groups from what was once Syria’s largest city.

“Reports indicate that Iran built a network of bases and deployed thousands of troops inside and around Aleppo,” the Foreign Ministry said. “Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, the Afghan Fatimiyoon militias and the Pakistani Zeynabiyoon militias were the major forces under IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps] command in Aleppo.”

Furthermore, it noted, “Iranian-led troops have been responsible for mass executions, attacks on civilians, including on women and children, and for blocking civilian evacuation from the bombarded city.”

Since the conflict in Syria began in 2011, Israel has sought to remain neutral. However, the IDF has responded with pinpoint strikes to occasional cross-border fire — both errant and intentional — in the Golan Heights and has also reportedly targeted a number of Hezbollah-bound weapons convoys in Syria in recent years.

As reported by The Algemeiner, thousands of Syrians wounded in the ongoing war in their country have received medical treatment at Israeli hospitals.

Earlier this month, while the fighting in Aleppo was continuing, an IDF reservist officer published an impassioned Facebook post calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dispatch a detachment of Israeli soldiers to end the bloodshed there.