General Aviv Kochavi says Iran and Hezbollah have been ‘building a huge Syrian militia’ A leading general in the Israeli army has accused Iran of working with Hezbollah to send  50,000 soldiers into Syria, in a bid to uphold President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. In a statement made on Friday , General Aviv Kochavi, the director of military intelligence in the Israeli forces, said: "Iran intends to double the size of these forces , who are trained at the hands of Hezbollah fighters with funding coming from the Iranian government in Tehran. The new forces will support the Syrian army, which suffers from exhaustion and frustration.”
Kochavi added that there is a growing number of extremists inside the Syrian opposition, "especially the al-Qaeda affiliated Victory Front" which has allegedly tried to sneak into Lebanon and establish relations and contacts within the military organisation.
Victory Front is based in the Sinai Peninsula "and is focused on attacking Israel,” said Kochavi.
Kochavi claims that since last June, Iran and Hezbollah have been building a huge Syrian militia, "and if this militia falls", the general believes, "an Iranian militia is in  place to prop up Assad’s regime.”
He also condemned the move for prolonging the conflict which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Syrians.