Thousands of militia fighters and mercenaries from three Arab countries have reportedly arrived near Syria’s occupied Golan Heights to aid Hezbollah in its ongoing war with Israel, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

Around 40,000 fighters had come to Syria from “a number of countries, including Iraq, Yemen and Syria”, the report claimed, citing unnamed sources in the Israeli military.

The fighters were reportedly within “the vicinity of the Golan Heights” waiting for orders from Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, to join the fighting, the daily said, without citing any evidence to support the claim by the Israeli military source.