Report: Hizbullah ‘Sending Fighters Back’ from Syria

Hizbullah’s participation in the Syrian war has reportedly “exhausted” the party compelling it to “bring back to Lebanon almost half of its fighters” fighting alongside the government forces of President Bashar Assad, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Wednesday.

“According to information obtained by France, Hizbullah is withdrawing almost half of its fighters from Syria back to Lebanon and those are estimated at a few thousand fighters,” a senior French source told the daily.

The total number of Hizbullah elements battling in the Syrian war ranges between 5,000 and 8,000, “half of which will be returning back to Lebanon,” added the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Furthermore, he said that “Israel is not targeting Hizbullah in Syria, nor is the party attacking Israel. It is like a mutual understanding between the two not to attack, as between Syria’s Assad and Israel,” he added.

Contrary to what Israel believes, the source pointed out that Hizbullah’s involvement in Syria’s war has strengthened the party despite losing many of its fighters in battle.

“Israeli strikes in Syria are limited to Iranian positions because Hizbullah has heavy weapons and has gained great military experience through the war in Syria. This is what Paris told Israel, which previously believed that the Syrian war would weaken Hizbullah militarily at a time when Paris saw that Hizbullah was strengthening itself even though it had lost many elements,” the source pointed out.

Israeli officials have come to realize that any attack against Hizbullah would be “a disaster for Lebanon and for Israel alike.”

He believed that Hizbullah was returning its fighters from Syria because their presence there has become a subject of controversy and resentment at its political and popular base because of the dead who were falling there.