Iraq's Shiite ruling parties and armed groups are discussing the reasons "for" and "against" armed intervention in Syria, considering the advance of Sunni Islamist rebels in that country as a serious threat, reports Reuters.

After the sudden conquest of Aleppo, the Syrian rebels captured Hama yesterday, and now they are attacking the third city in Syria, the agency reminded.

Iraq has deployed thousands of regular army personnel along its borders, as well as the National Mobilization Forces, a security agency that includes many pro-Iranian armed groups that have previously fought in Syria.

For now, they are under orders to defend Iraq's western flank and not intervene to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said an unnamed Iraqi Shiite politician, government adviser and Arab diplomat familiar with the matter. These sources added that this could change depending on the development of the situation, in case the rebels take the city of Homs, the Assad regime falls or if the Shiites are persecuted.

Iraqi government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said Iraq does not want military intervention in Syria, but described the division of that country as a "red line" for Baghdad, without elaborating. The Iraqi government, led by moderate Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, is doing its best not to be drawn into the growing regional conflict, trying to focus on rebuilding the country after decades of war, Reuters reports.

Baghdad has a troubled history with Sunni fighters from Syria who crossed into Iraq in their thousands after the 2003 US invasion and fueled years of killings between the two religious groups, only to return to Iraq in 2013 when Islamic State seized a third of the country.

Syrian rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, have dissociated themselves from that organization as well as Islamic State, and say they have no ambitions in Iraq, but Iraq's ruling factions have not placed much trust in such groups. claims.

The head of Iraqi diplomacy, Fuad Hussein, met today in Baghdad with his Syrian and Iranian counterpart Bassam Sabagh and Abbas Arakchi. Hussein condemned the attacks of terrorist groups in Syria, while Arakci promised Syria all support, reports RT Balkan.