Devil Soul
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Hezbollah says will quit Syria if Arab stop meddling
AGENCIES
Published 2014-02-17 12:53:08
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Sunday for Arab political forces to “stop the war on Syria,” promising that if they left the country alone, his Lebanese Shiite group would also withdraw.
“If you want to prevent this region from falling into chaos that will not end for decades, stop the war on Syria,” Nasrallah said, addressing all political forces in the Arab world.
“Get the fighters out of Syria, let the Syrians reconcile,” the leader of the movement said.
“Of course if that happened, we would not remain in Syria either.”
Hezbollah fighters helped turn the tide for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the military struggle against rebels last year.
Nasrallah's speech also appeared to be a response to Lebanese politician Saad Hariri, who on Friday vowed to tackle militancy within his own Sunni sect but said Hezbollah must end its involvement in Syria to avoid a “sectarian holocaust”.
Syria's rebels are mostly Sunnis, while Assad belongs to the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Sunni militants have become more active in Lebanon since the Syrian conflict began almost three years ago.
They and Syrian rebel groups have carried out several suicide bombings in Hezbollah-controlled areas in Beirut and elsewhere, killing dozens of people.
They have vowed to keep attacking Hezbollah until it withdraws its forces from Syria.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah could not allow rebels to win in Syria, characterising them all as Islamist radicals, and asked his followers for more sacrifice and patience.
“The people who died in these bombs - women and children, young and old - are just like our men who have been martyred in Syria,” he said.
“Is this part of the battle worthwhile? Yes it is worth it.”
In other news, the Western- and Arab-backed Syrian Free Army (FSA) has sacked its leader and replaced him with a more experienced field commander as part of a revamp of moderate forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad, opposition sources said on Monday.
A statement by the FSA's Supreme Military Council said it replaced General Selim Idriss, who had served in the Corps of Engineers of Assad's army, with Colonel Abdelilah al-Bashir, head of FSA operations in the province of Qunaitera on the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The decision was prompted by “the ineffectiveness of the command in the past few months... and to provide leadership for military operations against the criminal regime and its allies from terrorist organisations,” said the statement.
The announcement was made on Sunday after a Supreme Military Council meeting in Turkey attended by Asaad Mustafa, defence minister in a provisional government set up by the opposition last year, the sources said.
Dissident rebels have long been wary of accepting leadership by Idriss, who has spent most of his time outside Syria since helping create the Supreme Military Council in Dec. 2012.
During his tenure, the FSA suffered major setbacks.
AGENCIES
Published 2014-02-17 12:53:08
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Sunday for Arab political forces to “stop the war on Syria,” promising that if they left the country alone, his Lebanese Shiite group would also withdraw.
“If you want to prevent this region from falling into chaos that will not end for decades, stop the war on Syria,” Nasrallah said, addressing all political forces in the Arab world.
“Get the fighters out of Syria, let the Syrians reconcile,” the leader of the movement said.
“Of course if that happened, we would not remain in Syria either.”
Hezbollah fighters helped turn the tide for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the military struggle against rebels last year.
Nasrallah's speech also appeared to be a response to Lebanese politician Saad Hariri, who on Friday vowed to tackle militancy within his own Sunni sect but said Hezbollah must end its involvement in Syria to avoid a “sectarian holocaust”.
Syria's rebels are mostly Sunnis, while Assad belongs to the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Sunni militants have become more active in Lebanon since the Syrian conflict began almost three years ago.
They and Syrian rebel groups have carried out several suicide bombings in Hezbollah-controlled areas in Beirut and elsewhere, killing dozens of people.
They have vowed to keep attacking Hezbollah until it withdraws its forces from Syria.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah could not allow rebels to win in Syria, characterising them all as Islamist radicals, and asked his followers for more sacrifice and patience.
“The people who died in these bombs - women and children, young and old - are just like our men who have been martyred in Syria,” he said.
“Is this part of the battle worthwhile? Yes it is worth it.”
In other news, the Western- and Arab-backed Syrian Free Army (FSA) has sacked its leader and replaced him with a more experienced field commander as part of a revamp of moderate forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad, opposition sources said on Monday.
A statement by the FSA's Supreme Military Council said it replaced General Selim Idriss, who had served in the Corps of Engineers of Assad's army, with Colonel Abdelilah al-Bashir, head of FSA operations in the province of Qunaitera on the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The decision was prompted by “the ineffectiveness of the command in the past few months... and to provide leadership for military operations against the criminal regime and its allies from terrorist organisations,” said the statement.
The announcement was made on Sunday after a Supreme Military Council meeting in Turkey attended by Asaad Mustafa, defence minister in a provisional government set up by the opposition last year, the sources said.
Dissident rebels have long been wary of accepting leadership by Idriss, who has spent most of his time outside Syria since helping create the Supreme Military Council in Dec. 2012.
During his tenure, the FSA suffered major setbacks.
