Lebanon's Hezbollah views events in Syria as a "major, dangerous and new transformation", a senior Hezbollah politician said on Monday, the Iran-backed group's first reaction to the toppling of its ally Bashar al-Assad.
Rebel fighters sit on vehicles, after rebels seized the capital and ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 9, 2024. Reuters/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon's Hezbollah views events in Syria as a "major, dangerous and new transformation", a senior Hezbollah politician said on Monday, the Iran-backed group's first reaction to the toppling of its ally Bashar al-Assad.
Hezbollah played a major part propping up Assad through years of war in Syria, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel - a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.
His downfall has stripped Hezbollah of a vital ally along Lebanon's eastern border. Assad-ruled Syria long served as a vital conduit for Iran to supply weapons to the Shi'ite Islamist Hezbollah.
"What is happening in Syria is a major, dangerous and new transformation, and how and why what happened requires an evaluation, and the evaluation is not done on the podiums," Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said in a statement.
Syrian armed groups led by the Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept into Damascus on Sunday, seizing the capital and forcing Assad to leave for Russia.
Israel dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah during more than a year of hostilities, which began when the Lebanese group opened fire on Oct. 8, 2023 in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza. A ceasefire in Lebanon took effect on Nov. 27.
Reporting by Laila Bassam
The past few days have unfolded like a geopolitical drama of historic proportions in Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia long considered untouchable, appears to be teetering on the edge of a seismic shift.
The U.S. military will consolidate its presence in Syria over the coming weeks and months in a move that could reduce the number of troops it has in the country by half, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on Friday.
In a defiant speech on Friday evening, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, insisted that the group “will not allow anyone to disarm it,” rejecting growing internal calls for the Lebanese state to reclaim exclusive control over the country’s weapons.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.