Hezbollah Chief Says His Forces Will Stay in Syria

New York Times

- ‎4 hours ago‎

Mr. Nasrallah's battle-hardened fighters joined the fray in Syria earlier this year to recapture a border town, and Mr. Assad's foes say they have also been deployed on other fronts in the south near Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo in the north.

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah vows to keep forces in SyriaLos Angeles Times

Nasrallah: Hezbollah in Syria for long haulAljazeera.com

From Lebanon:Hezbollah pledges to continue Syria campaignThe Daily Star

 

Hezbollah Chief Says His Forces Will Stay in Syria

Khalil Hassan/Reuters

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, greeted his supporters on Thursday at a Shiite ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon.

By ALAN COWELL and ANNE BARNARD

Published: November 14, 2013

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LONDON — The head of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group whose armed followers are fighting in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, pledged on Thursday that his forces would remain there as long as necessary.

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The leader, Hassan Nasrallah, spoke at a Shiite ceremony in his stronghold in southern Beirut, the Lebanese capital, held to observe Ashura, one of the most important holidays on the Shiite religious calendar. It commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Mr. Nasrallah’s battle-hardened fighters joined the fray in Syria earlier this year to recapture a border town, and Mr. Assad’s foes say they have also been deployed on other fronts in the south near Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo in the north.

“As long as the reasons remain, our presence there will remain,” Mr. Nasrallah told thousands of his followers.

“Our fighters, our mujahedeen, are present on Syrian soil,” Mr. Nasrallah declared, adding that they were in Syria also to support Lebanon and Palestinian causes, “to confront all the dangers of the international, regional and takfiri attack on this country and on this region.” Takfiri refers to the extremist Sunni fighters aligned with Al Qaeda who have joined the attempt to overthrow Mr. Assad.

The Syrian leader is a close ally of Shiite-led Iran, Hezbollah’s patron, and is from the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The civil war, which has claimed more than 110,000 lives and forced millions of Syrians to flee their homes, has deepened the polarization between Sunnis and Shiites in many parts of the Middle East.

Mr. Nasrallah’s remarks seemed to be directed specifically at the fighting within Syria and were not seen as a general call to arms, analysts said.

He also said Hezbollah, the dominant force in Lebanese politics, would not yield to demands from political rivals to pull out of Syria as a condition for resolving the impasse that has left Lebanon adrift under a caretaker government. He told his audience that he would not trade what he termed an existential fight in Syria for seats in the Lebanese cabinet.

As a security precaution, Mr. Nasrallah sometimes appears before his supporters by video link, reflecting Hezbollah’s concerns that he could be the target of an attack by Israel. In 2006, Hezbollah forces battled Israeli troops in a 34-day war.

But Mr. Nasrallah made his remarks in person on Thursday, protected by bodyguards and other measures, including a ban on vehicles in the area where he spoke. It was his second public appearance in two days and his third this year.

Mr. Nasrallah’s comments seemed likely to further buoy Syrian government forces. On Wednesday, loyalist troops recaptured a suburb south of Damascus and pressed other offensives outside Aleppo in what appeared to be a big push to regain territory ahead of proposed internationally sponsored peace talks.

While no date has been formally announced for the negotiations, Al Watan, a Syrian newspaper that supports the government, reported that Dec. 12 had been set for a conference in Geneva. The newspaper cited a Western diplomatic source in Paris. The paper also quoted a Syrian source as saying that the country was still consulting with its ally Russia on final plans for the conference.

On Wednesday, state news media showed government troops continuing to make inroads in a string of suburbs south of Damascus by cutting off some supply lines to rebel-held towns. But despite back-and-forth claims of success by the rebels and the government, little has shifted on the front lines around the capital over the past year. In many places, only a few hundred yards separate the entrenched opponents.

The war has also frequently threatened to draw in Syria’s neighbors. The latest such episode came on Thursday, when security officials told The Associated Press that at least seven rockets fired from Syria landed in a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon. Syrian military helicopters were also in action in the border area, The A.P. reported.

Alan Cowell reported from London, and Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon. Christine Hauser contributed reporting from New York.

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Hezbollah Chief Says His Forces Will Stay in Syria

It is difficult to say where all this will go over the next 10 to 25 years as the fighting continues ongoing in Syria and whether Hezbollah will eventually be fighting against Turkey and Saudi Arabia too because of private Turkish Aid to Sunni Rebel fighters in Syria as well as private Aid from Saudi Arabia and all Sunni Muslim Countries. Then to add to that Al Qaeda is using Syria as a rallying cry for Sunni Muslims throughout the Muslim World Against Assad and all his allies including Hezbollah. We might be watching the beginning of a sectarian war with consequences for the next 100 years and beyond in the Middle East. Because historically one thing is true. Both sides seem to never forget any perceived slight from the other side for more than a thousand years already. So, it is likely that both sides(throughout the middle east) will be seeking revenge for everything happening now for the next 100 to 300 years just from what has happened in Syria during the last few years.