France Says 3,000-4,000 Hizbullah Fighters in Syria
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday some 3,000 to 4,000 fighters from Hizbullah were currently battling alongside regime troops in Syria.
"Regarding the Hizbullah militants present in the conflict, numbers vary between 3,000 and 10,000. Our estimate is around 3 to 4,000," the minister told the foreign affairs committee at France's lower house National Assembly.
"When you have fighters who are heavily armed and who are ready to die and number several thousands, it makes a huge difference," he said.
"There have been changes. On Assad's side there has been a reinforcement ... the total involvement of Iran, Hizbullah's involvement, the fact that the Russians continue to furnish arms," he said.
Fabius said although the majority of the fighters were Syrian, they were often led by Iranians.
Syria's regime is dominated by the minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while the majority of the population are Sunnis.
Iran-backed Hizbullah sent almost 1,700 fighters to the strategic town of Qusayr more than a week ago to support the regime's assault on the rebel stronghold.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has promised his fighters will help deliver "victory" in the battle, seen as pivotal in Syria's drawn out civil war in which more than 94,000 people have died.
More than 94,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict which broke out after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired democracy protests that erupted in March 2011.
29 May 2013, 19:29
714
To hell with them! They fight syrians, they fight Lebanese (May 8th), they assasinate Lebanese politicians and free spirits, and they beg for cease fire and accept to retreat after the Litani river after they started a war that cost us Billions!!! They can come back...in body bags!
They controle the airport, the port customs, to hell with them!
29 May 2013, 21:35
33
How can one compare the killing of torture of tens of thousands by the ASSad regime and hizbocrap to a few killings by some claiming to be with the revolution?
29 May 2013, 21:35
36
Mowaten: Nasrallah lies to us in the face and sends our kids to die in a foreign conflict defending a war criminal, like dirty mercenaries, and you expect us to have any respect for him?
Hezbollah will fail. Assad will go. And because of Nasrallah's blind servitude to his Iranian master, the monsters that will replace Assad will come back to haunt us all.
29 May 2013, 21:46
21
because you have a selective memory mowaten that is why you haven't seen it or pretend to because it is good for your propaganda........
30 May 2013, 21:38
00
You watch too many cheap movies, and play too many video games Flamette...
30 May 2013, 21:46
00
The Spartans were defending their own ground.... Against the Persians ;-)
29 May 2013, 20:01
49
Ah! They did not accept to retreat beyond Litani?? They did not assasinate Lebanese Leaders either...LOL... Yeah well 3 months ago you were denying their presence in Syria... hehehe...so...
29 May 2013, 20:10
34
"It was unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council on 11 August 2006. The Lebanese cabinet, which includes two members of Hezbollah, unanimously approved the resolution on 12 August 2006."
"The resolution calls:
Disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon (implying Hezbollah)
No armed forces other than UNIFIL and Lebanese (implying Hezbollah and Israeli forces) will be south of the Litani River"
Oh well... :)
29 May 2013, 20:20
55
Ya Patriot, I am against mercenary terrorists regardless of whether they hail from HA or the foreign Al-Qaeda affiliates that infiltrated the FSA ranks, however I do not wish for the return of young Lebanese men as misguided and wrong to fight in Syria as they may be, in body bags. That said you are trying to reason with someone that is unreasonable: "mowaten" et-al, why do you bother? To answer these people is to enable them.
29 May 2013, 20:31
55
Me too Bandoul. I am against all these crazies mercenaries. It is not their fight. But I am sorry... i have no pitty for those people who have a culture of death! I have no sympathy for those women who say they do not care for their sons if they die for Nasrallah! I do not care for those families who would rather take a financial compensation for a martyr! This shocks me profoundly!! My culture is of life, and freedom, and freewill! These people want a Lebanon that resembles not the Lebanon I want!
29 May 2013, 22:30
12
Both of you are right. Patriot's point is pertinent. The young men that didn't die their will return with a PTSD.... they'll represent a threat to all.
30 May 2013, 03:41
20
Who bombed the terrorist camp in 2007 in Tripoli, and who red lined it ?
29 May 2013, 21:09
48
Mowaten: you lost all credibility. you just repeat what you hear on your TV. A few days ago you were saying that your friends weren't involved in Syria, now you are just comparing the numbers? (one day we will talk about the number of people your friends assassinated in Lebanon too...) So please stop the crap, there aren't good and bad terrorists. There are terrorists. Period.
29 May 2013, 21:39
42
They should send some more. Pay back to Iran. Now Iran is collecting the return on its investment. H.A. is paying back Iran with blood. Or call it jihad or some other religious b.s. and everybody would be happy and Israel is defeated.
29 May 2013, 22:17
44
Wellcome to the real world Hezbollah.This is what happens when you ally yourself with the devil...eternal debt.
29 May 2013, 23:34
31
No surprise here, the FSA will win and hizbullah will get hit hard. The media is having a field day, the same way they were hyped up of the FSA capturing swathes of territory after the Syrian army changed strategies and concentrated troop presence around and in cities. The only negative part of this whole situation is the loss of battle tested rebels who could be used to train and lead.
This whole time, Russia and Iran have been supplying Syria and Hizbullah, this doesn't include the amount of weaponry the Syrian army started off with. If the Brits and U.S, since French armaments do not have a record of being used very effectively, start arming the FSA, Russia will plain out loose. I don't know if they see this as a means of hitting back at the U.S for its involvement in Afghanistan during the end of the Cold War, but if the U.S and U.K ever turn over, Iran will feel it heavily.
30 May 2013, 00:51
22
At least someone is keeping a PARTIAL tally! Now what, France? Flog yourselves like the Saudis, Qataris and Turks and cry in pain?
30 May 2013, 10:19
21
They lost 5% of them trying to enter the small city of Qusair. They will be consumed once they decide to go into Homs.
30 May 2013, 19:56
00
Hezbollah should know better, invaders and foreigners can never win!
May they all die a stupid death to the image of the leader and followers.
Bombings in Dahye in 2 days ? It doesn't make me happy but they are inviting war to Lebanon and deserve whatever's coming to them.
