Hezbollah stands by Syria

Hezbollah leader vows to stand by Syrian regime in fight against rebels

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's comments come as Assad's forces and Hezbollah intensify campaign for town of Qusair

the Guardian,

25 May, 2013

The leader of Hezbollah has warned that the fall of the Syrian regime would give rise to extremists and plunge the Middle East into a "dark period", and vowed that his Shia militant group will not stand idly by while its chief ally in Damascus is under attack.

In a televised address, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah members are fighting in Syria against Islamic extremists who pose a danger to Lebanon, and pledged that his group will not allow Syrian militants to control areas bordering Lebanon.

Nasrallah's comments marked the first time he has publicly confirmed that his men are fighting in Syria, and were his first remarks since Hezbollah fighters have become deeply involved in the battle for the strategic Syrian town of Qusair near the Lebanese frontier.

Hezbollah has been heavily criticised at home and abroad for sending fighters to Syria to fight along President Bashar al-Assad's forces. In his speech, Nasrallah sought to defend the group's deepening involvement, and frame it as part of a broader battle against Israel.

He also portrayed the fight in Syria as an "existential war" for anti-Israel groups including Hezbollah.

"Syria is the back of the resistance, and the resistance cannot stand, arms folded, while its back is broken," Nasrallah said.

"If Syria falls into the hands of America, Israel and the takfiris, the people of our region will go into a dark period," he said in a speech to mark the anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000. "If Syria falls, Palestine will be lost."

The term "takfiri" has become associated with an offshoot of the salafist movement, which condones violence to achieve ideological goals. Many of its practitioners embrace the teachings of al-Qaida.

Nasrallah's comments came as Syrian government forces and Hezbollah launched a fierce campaign on Saturday to seize more rebel territory in the town of Qusair.

Rebels fighting to topple Assad said additional tanks and artillery had been deployed around opposition-held territory in the Syrian town close to the Lebanese border.

"I've never seen a day like this since the battle started," said activist Malek Ammar. "The shelling is so violent and heavy. It's like they're trying to destroy the city house by house."

At least 30 people were killed in opposition-held areas on Saturday, most of them rebels, and dozens were injured, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rebels are largely surrounded in Qusair, a town of 30,000 that has become a strategic battleground. Assad's forces want to take the area to secure a route between the capital Damascus and his stronghold on the Mediterranean coast, effectively dividing rebel-held territories in the north and south.

The opposition has been fighting back, seeing it as critical to maintain cross-border supply routes and stop Assad from gaining a victory they fear would give him the upper hand in proposed peace talks to be led by the US and Russia next month.

Assad's forces are believed to have seized about two-thirds of Qusair, but the price has been high and rebels insist that they are preventing any further advances.

If Syria falls, so will Palestine, Hezbollah's Nasrallah warns in speech

In a televised speech, Nasrallah says Israel 'fears rockets' and cautions that militant factions taking over Syria 'pose a threat to Lebanon.'

Haaretz,

25 may, 2013

Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah opened a front against al-Qaida and its affiliated groups, especially in Syria, stressing on Saturday that his organization was prepared to send tens of thousands of combatants to defend Syria.

In a televised speech marking the 13th anniversary of the Israeli pullout from southern Lebanon, Nasrallah also said that "if Syria falls, so will Palestine, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem. We will enter a very dark phase."

He also spoke about Israeli preparations for a possible conflict with Hezbollah and said that Israel formed a new government portfolio dedicated to protecting the home front. "In Israel everything is geared up for a conflict year round and all year they hold maneuvers. Israel fears rockets, because we have no air force. The Israelis built towns along its borders. They are bringing in Jews from Ethiopia, Romania, and Argentina, and placing them by our borders and providing them with money and arms. On our side of the border, our towns are nearly empty."

Nasrallah did not present the fighting as a conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, but rather as one waged between heathens serving a Western Zionist agenda and the Syrian resistance that refuses to accept the dictates of the West.

Nasrallah unequivocally stressed that the fall of the Syrian regime would be a blow to the "resistance." "Syria is the backbone of the 'resistance,' that cannot sit still and wait while its backbone is being broken," he said. "If Syria falls in the hands of the Americans and the Israelis and the American representatives in the region, the 'resistance' will be isolated and Israel will enter Lebanon and force its laws upon it. Lebanon will return to the Israeli era."

In his speech, Nasrallah tied the U.S. and Israel to Jihadist organizations working under the aegis of al-Qaida in Syria: "These combatants coming from many countries received many allowances to leave their countries and arrive at Syria, this is the American method of destabilizing Syria from the inside, using these organizations that brand everyone is heathens, those organizations that had killed more Sunni Muslims than anyone else. An example of this is what is happening in Iraq, Pakistan, and Somalia. We think that the armed forces taking over Syria are a great danger to Lebanon and all the Lebanese, not only Hezbollah or the Lebanese Shiites."

A great deal of Nasrallah's speech was devoted to the situation in Syria, with Nasrallah reiterating his support for Assad's regime. He added that "What is taking place in Syria is very important to Lebanon and is crucial to our future. We are on the border. We have the courage to talk and act and thus we will speak honestly – our position was clear from the get go. The demand for reforms is acceptable and this government has a place. Reforms should begin along with political dialog."

Regarding Hezbollah's involvement in the fighting in Syria, Nasrallah said: "We started getting involved only a few months ago. We tried to initiate contact through all our channels but they didn't listen, stubbornly they decided to reject the dialogue – they want to overthrow the government at any costs."

Nasrallah went on to say "We are in a delicate point in history. There is no time to burry our heads in the sand, it is time to raise our heads and stand tall in the face of the hurricane. So, in all honesty, what has this country [Lebanon] done? The Lebanese nation isn't prepared to face the Israeli threat."

According to him "The Lebanese resistance changed the Israeli equation. Currently, we are protecting Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria."