Hizbullah Says 3 Dead, 14 Hurt in 'Self-Defense' in Syria as Opposition Slams 'Intervention' in Homs
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Three Lebanese Shiites have been killed in fighting in Syria, a Hizbullah official said Sunday, as the Syrian opposition accused the Lebanese group of intervening on the side of the regime.
"Two Lebanese Shiites living in Syria were killed and at least 14 others wounded in clashes with rebels," the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity, later adding that one of the wounded had also died.
He said they were acting in "self-defense", without specifying if they were Hizbullah members.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the three slain Lebanese were members of pro-regime militias who had been trained by Hizbullah.
Earlier on Sunday, the main bloc of the Syrian opposition accused Hizbullah of "military intervention" in Syria, calling it a danger to regional peace and security.
The Syrian National Council (SNC) said members of the group on Saturday attacked "three Syrian villages in the Qusayr region near the Lebanese border."
The operation in Homs province led not only to "civilian casualties and the exodus of hundreds of people," but also "stoked sectarian tensions" in the area, the SNC said in a statement.
The SNC said Hizbullah was employing "heavy weapons openly and under the auspices of the Syrian regime army."
This is a "serious threat to Syrian-Lebanese relations and regional peace and security," it said, adding that the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati has a responsibility to end this "aggression."
Later on Sunday, Louay al-Meqdad, spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Free Syrian Army, accused Hizbullah of shelling Syrian territory with artillery and rocket launchers from bases inside Lebanon.
“Hizbullah has deployed in five towns inside Syrian territory and it is combing the areas it has seized,” Meqdad told Future TV.
“Hizbullah has declared an open war against the Syrian people and we call on the Lebanese president (Michel Suleiman) to intervene,” he added.
Hizbullah and its allies in the ruling March 8 coalition back Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, but the March 14 opposition alliance supports the rebellion.
The Shiite party occasionally announces the death of one of its fighters killed "carrying out his jihadist duty," but without clarification.
In October 2012, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged that party members had fought Syrian rebels, but said they were acting as individuals and not under the party's direction.
Nasrallah clarified that the Hizbullah fighters were killed while defending Lebanese-inhabited border towns inside Syria. He explained that there are 23 Syrian border towns and 12 farms that are inhabited by Lebanese residents of various religious beliefs, adding that around 30,000 Lebanese residents live in these towns.
“The residents of these towns took the decision to stay and defend themselves against the armed groups and did not engage in the battle between the regime and the opposition,” Hizbullah's leader added.
On Saturday, the Local Coordination Committees -- a grassroots network of activists on the ground in Syria -- reported fighting between rebels and members of Hizbullah around Qusayr.
It said they were trying to break into the rebel-held city, which has been under daily army bombardment for the past year.
17 February 2013, 11:30
722
After you're done cleaning Syria from thei shabiha, come and help us clean Lebanon from its shabiha.
17 February 2013, 12:08
619
Hizballa is a cancer, make sure they rush before we all end up dead.
17 February 2013, 13:21
48
People like the two of you are the problem with the Arab world and Lebanon in particular. Blatant racism can get you no where. Bring yourselves to the 21st century.
17 February 2013, 13:43
48
He's clearly an atheist/secular March 14 devotee. Stop bringing up the Holocaust and making us Lebanese look tasteless.
17 February 2013, 17:47
37
Whats the diffirence between cutting up children and bombing children leaving them in pieces as israel has done and will continue doing? And if you were referring to the houla massacre, 5il this day, only God and those who comitted the massacre know the identity of who did it. Its not a fact that they were shia. Im Muslim (sunni if we must be labeled) and we have been ordered in the quran not to repeat lies we cant verify. Israel as well as anyone who murders innocents is pure garbage and no religion is free from garbage followers especially in lebanon where all sects have their fair share of terrorists and murderers. By the way, during sabra and shatila massacres, women and children were cut to pieces and hacked by israeli-trained and supervised terrorists in case you forgot.
17 February 2013, 19:23
48
to kill sunis is heroic for nazi racists like you. If bashar tomorrow uses chemical weapons against the suni syrians you would be more than happy. Heroic? akeed, cause for people like you with infinite blind stupid grudges think you are killing sunis who are yazeed followers. Do you know my friend that i used to attend ashuras all the time? do you know that i was pro resistance up until 2005? i tell you this to show you that i am not racist and that it is the injustice and oppression of iran that made me change 180 degrees. You are not any better than israel and you are both enemies of the Arabs. Soon you and israel will be allies against the Arabs.
17 February 2013, 19:34
18
i dont know how much clearer it could be... those villages and towns are IN Syria.. how some people can justify HA being there and condoning it is beyond me... so if the United States dives into civil war it is ok for HA to send "defenders" to Dearborn, Michigan to protect the majority Arabs? how ludicrous.. not to mention lacking in any substantial argument.
17 February 2013, 20:17
28
yes moaten, bravo! you are the man!
either you think everybody is stupid or you are the stupid one :)
hizbushaitan is fighting alongside the Syrian regime in Syria. they are there to kill Syrians and not to defend xyz :)
these are not heroes: THEY ARE TRAITORS and terrorists.
17 February 2013, 11:35
196
Yet they say nothing of Al Nusra terrorists, Takfiris taking over their country and imposing Sharia law ...
The majority of the Assad government, including the military, is Sunni ... moderate Sunni, yet the article fails to mention this ...
17 February 2013, 11:59
46
These are my thoughts exactly. How can all these sunnis in Syria and of course the outsiders cannot overrun Bashar and the 5000 HA fighters.
17 February 2013, 12:58
86
"The majority of the Syrian military are Sunni, but most of the military leadership are Alawites."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Armed_Forces
17 February 2013, 13:23
511
They're Sunnis who are scared for their families and believe fighting with the government will guarantee their children's safety. Obviously Alawites are the ones in charge.
17 February 2013, 13:26
212
that's because they have mandatory service ya zakzak...the top brass of the military is almost exclusively alawite...what does that tell you?
17 February 2013, 13:27
510
they're sunnis becuase they have mandatory service and they are not allowing those who finished their service to leave because the country is in a "state of war"...but the top brass is almost exclusively alawite, you know...the guys that get the money and don't risk their lives.
17 February 2013, 19:38
25
Syrian were Syrians?? so why did Assad not see his population as such and allow them into the rule? why did he save the best spots for the Allawi Syrians.. All Syrians are equal huh? but some Syrians are more equal than others...
17 February 2013, 20:57
34
actually FT, your friends in hizbocrap do not accept membership unless your shiite, so your statement is quite false.
17 February 2013, 23:46
23
dude, unfortunately with these types of conflicts you will have the extremists converge like they did in Afghanistan and other places. ASSad and others could have avoided this almost 2 years ago, but decided another course of action.
I am not defending these extremists (hate any kind of extremists actually), but ASSad did this on his own. He could have taken a different course of action if he really cared about Syria instead of his hold on the country.
18 February 2013, 07:19
00
sure sure FT.. i am not denying that no Sunnis or Christians were part of the government.. come on...but take into percentages and you will see that the over..over..overwhelming sect that is represented in the government.. top military brass.. and other high places are Alawites..this regime was sectarian.. no two ways about it.
17 February 2013, 12:13
417
shias never were the problem, only hizballa is because of its terror policies. I have shia friends everywhere.
17 February 2013, 22:07
26
actually because of iran and its policies/proxies.
none of this sh!t was going on pre-1979 at least close to this extent.
17 February 2013, 14:16
00
Funny hearing Stargate call Jews the trash of Europe. Little does he realize that most Israelis are Jews thrown out of Arab countries. If Israel is trash...what is Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world? It's like a garbage man telling a Nobel prize winner he's an idiot.
17 February 2013, 15:12
00
SNC say, Hizballah is posing a serious threat......... and regional peace security etc. etc. it looks like people in that area have lost their senses of logic and thinking. Just one track minded brain washed robots brain washed and hypnotized by their religions and money hunger. The mercineries and some the SNC are fighting for money backed by the USA/Gulf. We in Canada and US have no respect for you people simply because you are destroying your own country and citizens,hired by US/Gulf money, the whole world is despising your attitude and cheap manners.
17 February 2013, 16:50
00
Shiagate Phalestini ..
Hizballah scare tactics placing the blame squarely on Israel, the big bad wolf, are only hallow rubbish.
You should seriously seek another bad wolf, people are no longer buying it. Simply because it has been over used since 1948 by Syria and your Phalestini tribes for their own political survival. Furthermore, in reality Hizballah caused more harm in Lebanon than Israel ever did.
If you're set on fighting Israel, buy a one way ticket to Gaza..
17 February 2013, 17:01
28
so Hassan lied about the involvement in Syria among many things --who is going to believe a word they say any more or have said in the past.
saints and 'resistance', they are not--mercenaries and thugs, they are.
17 February 2013, 17:52
00
Hope they're all decimated in Syria and then Lebanon. The true face of the so-called pilgrims is there! These are the Saints! Contract-killers, paid by the basij, operated by remote-control, roaming the wolrd, from Argentina, to Thailand, to Azerbaidjan, to Egypt, to Bulgaria lately, not to mention all the political serial murders in Lebanon which had gone unnoticed to the general public in the early eighties, and are exposed in broad daylight today by the STL, and every Lebanese and every foreign jurisdiction that had to deal with hizbollah terrorist achievments. This is the true face of the terrorist organisation called hizbollah.
17 February 2013, 18:23
311
Self-defense? WTF ?? self-defense applies for lebanese on their soil aggressed by foreigners, like our glorious warriors resisted the syrians in achrafieh and zahle, and the israelis in bent jbeil and maroun el ras. this is self defense!
not when lebanese go fight others on their homeland. that would be self-defense for the others
17 February 2013, 19:01
29
self defense? LOL "The SNC said Hizbullah was employing "heavy weapons openly and under the auspices of the Syrian regime army.""
they worked with the syrian army thus a foreign army... that is not self defense to me but collaboration with a foreign army...
17 February 2013, 19:06
83
Rebels are not targeting Hezbollah, they are targeting Shiias, sectarian soldiers they truly are.
17 February 2013, 19:08
00
The Christians in the free areas of Lebanon were called Jews and IDF apologists during the war years mostly by the greater Syria dummies and the likes, so don't mind their illiterate imbecile offspring.
17 February 2013, 19:25
210
isn t the gvt calling for disassociation? seems hezbis don t listen to their gvt... no surprise, they don t care about the lebanese gvt...
17 February 2013, 19:26
111
The funniest thing for me is when i read anti israel comments and lessons in patriotism from Aounis..ahleeen lol.. go talk to your 'hero' fayez karam. The revenge for wesam 7asan is coming and your aoun will leave you behind, mark my words.
17 February 2013, 21:00
00
Brilliant bull excrement Hassins, "self defense" yeah that's the ticket, I guess when the Shiites fought the PLO in the camps war the PLO was also only engaged in "self defense" of the Palestinian populated camps inside Lebanon against invading Shiite terrorists. What will they think of next.
17 February 2013, 21:26
00
My comment is to those who keep complaining about the involvement of the Shia brothers from lebanon, but no mention about the "Jihadists' from all over the world killing our Syrian brothers and sisters , and destroying the beautiful country of Syria. You are exposing your true "color" by doing that. SHAME ON YOU!!!
17 February 2013, 23:17
48
Hizbollah is about to discover a quagmire of the kind that the IDF discovered in Lebanon. Superior weaponery means little in this street by street battle. The nummber of body bags coming to shia villages and urban areas wil exceed those killed by the israelis simply because they dont have monoply on the guerilla advantage in the war in Syria. Furthermore they will continue to suffer losses for a long long time because of the nature of the conflict in Syria. I am talking about years no matter if Assad go or not. Its not like a 40 day Israeli attack, its not a war against occupiers where they decide when to attack or not, its not a war against occupiers where they are fighting with high morale forever because its their own land. Welcome to the quagmire of Syria that you have entered with open eyes, Nasrallah.
18 February 2013, 00:51
00
we wish you all great success. what a bunch of bloodthirsty losers.
18 February 2013, 01:49
13
When Nasoura comes on TV and says he does not need Iran and Syrian to send him weapons then why is he exporting humans to Syria and Bulgaria? what's the cost for that? simply jihadist? Does he want every Lebanese to be dog sniffed anytime they leave Beirut Airport to any Country in the world? You want to fight the evil then let's go to Golan, hit them hard over there to get out of a land they took by force from your Syrian brothers. This is where the real face off should occur so that Lebanon as a country and people do not pay the price again of the 2006 war.
