(The Daily Star)- Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Tuesday that the new U.S. administration will determine how long the war in Syria continues, adding that his party "sees no way to back out of Aleppo and Syria" before “victory.”
“Despite all sacrifices made, we will continue to fight in Syria,” Qassem said in an interview published by Hezbollah’s Al-Ahed news site. “We are determined to oust the takfiri scheme.”
The Hezbollah official accused the U.S. of founding ISIS to counter his party’s military efforts, and of backing the group until it had become a threat to the country.
Turning to Aleppo, Qassem said the siege on rebel fighters in the city was an indication that Hezbollah and the Syrian government were on the path to victory, adding that partitioning in Syria would not be a viable solution to the conflict.
He defended has party's involvement in the neighboring country, saying that the assistance to the “brethren in Syria began because the conflict is that of the [Arab] nation.”
“We have a unified objective, which is to face the terrorists and the Zionists,” he said later Tuesday during a meeting with Syrian academics.
Several local and regional figures have repeatedly condemned Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian crisis since 2011.
In his inauguration speech on Oct. 31, newly elected President Michel Aoun, an ally of Hezbollah, had said it was “necessary to dissociate Lebanon from external conflicts,” without naming the party.
In October, Lebanon’s newly designated Prime Minister Saad Hariri accused Hezbollah and Iran of destroying Syria and seeking to partition Yemen.
Early in 2016, GCC countries and Arab League states categorized Hezbollah as a terrorist organization over the party’s engagement in regional conflicts.
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