by Israel Hayom Staff and AP
After months of denying reports that its fighters were aiding the Assad regime in Syria, Hezbollah has acknowledged that one of its most senior members was killed while "performing his jihadi duties" in the embattled Syrian city of Homs.
Photo credit: moqawama.org
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After months of denying reports that its fighters were aiding the Assad regime in Syria, Hezbollah has acknowledged that one of its most senior members was killed while "performing his jihadi duties" in the embattled Syrian city of Homs.
Several websites affiliated with the Shiite terrorist organization admitted on Tuesday that Ali Hussein Nassif, also known as Abu Abbas, was killed in Homs on Sunday. Reports in the Arab press state that several of the organization's top officials traveled to the Baalbek region of Lebanon to attend his funeral.
Rebels said Nassif and several of his men had been killed in an ambush by the Free Syrian Army. Other reports said they had died in clashes on the border, the BBC reported on its website.
Obituaries for Hezbollah fighters have begun to appear in Lebanese newspapers, without the circumstances of the deaths being explained.
Sources in Baalbek — the main town in the Bekaa Valley — told Reuters news agency that Nassif and two other Hezbollah members were killed when a rocket hit a building in which they were staying.
A security official told the Associated Press that Nassif's body was returned to Lebanon through the Masnaa border crossing on Sunday.
The Guardian reported Tuesday that, while openly acknowledging the party's support for the embattled regime of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had claimed it had only provided moral backing. However, new graves in cemeteries in Lebanon designated for members deemed to have "died as martyrs" have steadily been dug throughout the summer. There has also been reported discontent among family members who have lost relatives, says The Guardian.
Hezbollah's reputation has taken a beating over its support for the Syrian government, but any sign that the group's fighters are taking part in the battle raises fears that the conflict could expand into a wider fight engulfing the region.
Hezbollah has stood by Syrian President Bashar Assad since the uprising began 18 months ago, even after the group supported revolts in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Bahrain.
Assad's fall would be a dire scenario for Hezbollah. Any new government led by Syria's majority Sunni Muslims would probably be far less friendly — or even outright hostile — to Shiite Muslim Hezbollah. Iran remains the group's most important patron, but Syria is a crucial supply route. Without it, Hezbollah will struggle to get money and weapons as easily.
The Syrian uprising has left Assad deeply isolated — making his remaining allies such as Iran and Russia all the more important. At last week's gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, dozens of nations excoriated the Assad government for its role in a conflict that activists estimate has killed at least 30,000 Syrians.
Meanwhile, Syria's state-run media unleashed a scathing attack on the leader of Hamas, accusing him of turning his back on Assad and describing him as ungrateful and traitorous.
In an editorial aired Monday, Syrian TV said Khaled Mashaal, who pulled Hamas's headquarters out of Damascus this year, had "abandoned the resistance movement against Israel and the United States."
The comments show just how much ties between Hamas and the Syrian government — once staunch allies — have disintegrated since the uprising began 18 months ago.
Most Hamas leaders have left Syria for Egypt. Mashaal himself shuttered Hamas' Damascus offices and now spends most of his time in Qatar, the tiny gulf country that has strongly backed the rebels battling to overthrow Assad.
In its editorial, Syrian state TV sought to remind Mashaal, who holds Jordanian citizenship, of when he was expelled from Jordan in 1999 for "illicit and harmful" activities, and how several countries refused to welcome him after he was kicked out.
"Remember when you were a refugee aboard planes. Damascus came and gave you mercy," the station said. "No one wanted to shake your hand then, as if you had rabies."
Israel Hayom Staff and AP
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=5967
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