BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah head Naim Qassem mentioned on Saturday that the Lebanese armed group had misplaced its provide route via Syria, in his first feedback because the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad practically per week in the past by a sweeping insurgent offensive.
Underneath Assad, Iran-backed Hezbollah used Syria to usher in weapons and different army tools from Iran, via Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon. However on Dec. 6, anti-Assad fighters seized the border with Iraq and reduce off that route, and two days later, Islamist rebels captured the capital Damascus.
“Yes, Hezbollah has lost the military supply route through Syria at this stage, but this loss is a detail in the resistance’s work,” Qassem mentioned in a televised speech on Saturday, with out mentioning Assad by identify.
“A new regime could come and this route could return to normal, and we could look for other ways,” he added.
Hezbollah began intervening in Syria in 2013 to assist Assad battle rebels searching for to topple him at the moment. Final week, as rebels approached Damascus, the group despatched supervising officers to supervise a withdrawal of its fighters there.
Greater than 50 years of Assad household rule has now been changed with a transitional caretaker authorities put in place by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al Qaeda affiliate that spearheaded the insurgent offensive.
Qassem mentioned Hezbollah “cannot judge these new forces until they stabilise” and “take clear positions”, however mentioned he hoped that the Lebanese and Syrian peoples and governments may proceed to cooperate.
“We also hope that this new ruling party will consider Israel an enemy and not normalise relations with it. These are the headlines that will affect the nature of the relationship between us and Syria,” Qassem mentioned.
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fireplace throughout Lebanon’s southern border for practically a 12 months in hostilities triggered by the Gaza warfare, earlier than Israel went on the offensive in September, killing most of Hezbollah’s prime management.
