Jamaa Islamiya Slams Hizbullah's Intervention in Syria, Accuses it of Creating Sedition

The head of the Jamaa Islamiya political bureau Azzam al-Ayyoubi lashed out at Hizbullah on Sunday, considering that the rebels in Syria and Qusayr are the “real resistance.”

“Hizbullah is creating sedition that will lead to its end,” Ayyoubi said during a ceremony in the northern region of Akkar.

He pointed out that after the battle of Qusayr “Hizbullah can no longer be called a resistance.”

He described the people of Qusayr and the rebels in Syria as the “real resistance that is defying oppressors and invaders.”

Ayyoubi slammed Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, accusing him of “igniting a sectarian war that will not stop at the borders of Syria.”

Syrian regime forces backed by elite Hizbullah fighters on Wednesday managed to recapture the strategic town of Qusayr near Lebanon's border from rebel hands following a fierce assault.

And on Saturday the Eastern Bweida village, the last rebel bastion in the area, was seized by Syrian forces, bringing the entire Qusayr region near the border with Lebanon back under regime control.

Only 10 kilometers from Lebanon, Qusayr is strategic for the regime and Hizbullah because of its proximity to the border and because it lies on a route linking Damascus to the the regime's bastion on the Syrian coast.

For the rebels, it was an important conduit from Lebanon for men and weapons.

“Hizbullah is not longer a supporter of those who are defenseless,” Ayyoubi added.

Ayyoubi said that wondered how “Hizbullah pretends to be defending the land against Israel but joined the U.S. and the Jewish state battle against the Takfiris.”

The official called on the Shiites to reconsider their stance as “the party will only lead the sect further to strife.”

Nasrallah had previously justified the group's involvement in Syria by saying they were defending Lebanese-inhabited border villages inside Syria and Shiite holy sites in the Damascus province.

But during a May 25 speech marking the 13th anniversary of Israel's military withdrawal from Lebanon, Nasrallah said the hardline Takfiris are the “most prevailing group in the Syrian opposition,” warning against a defeat against them in the ongoing war in Syria.

He said: “If Syria falls in the hands of the Takfiris and the United States, the resistance will become under a siege and Israel will enter Lebanon. If Syria falls, the Palestinian cause will be lost.”