Hizbullah Recovers Bodies of Three Fighters Killed in Aleppo
Hizbullah has managed to retrieve the corpses of three of its fighters who were killed in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, the party announced late Saturday.
The three combatants who hail from south Lebanon were identified as Ramzi Mughniyeh from the town of Tayr Dibba, Wael Youssef from the town of al-Bazouriyeh and Mohammed Hamza from the town of al-Sharqiyeh.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had announced Friday that his party had lost 26 fighters in fierce clashes in Aleppo province since the beginning of June.
A Hizbullah militant was also captured by rival groups while another is missing, Nasrallah added, dismissing media reports that claimed a higher casualty toll for Hizbullah.
Nasrallah also noted that “617 militants, including dozens of field commanders,” had been killed since the beginning of the fighting in Aleppo on June 1.
“More than 800 militants were wounded while over 80 armored personnel carriers, tanks and vehicles were destroyed,” he added.
Hizbullah's chief also described the fight for the province of Aleppo as the “greatest battle” to date in the Syrian war, noting that the outcome would have an impact on “Damascus, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan.”
“After they failed to reach Damascus from Lebanon, Jordan and the eastern front, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have dispatched thousands of militants in a bid to launch an offensive from the northern front,” he declared.
Hizbullah's intervention in the Syrian conflict alongside regime forces has helped Damascus achieve several military victories and allowed the party to clear most of the Lebanese-Syrian border region from rebels and jihadists.
Since 2013, the Lebanese, Iran-backed party has sent thousands of combatants -- between 5,000 and 6,000, according to the expert on Hizbullah Waddah Sharara -- to help the regime fight both rebels and jihadists.
They send 2,000 fighters at a time in rotation, Sharara says. Experts say Hizbullah has lost 1,000 to 2,000 fighters in the conflict, including senior commanders.
Y.R.
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