A senior Hezbollah commander, speaking to Martin Chulov of The Guardian, explains the reason for the Lebanese organization’s
intervention alongside the Assad regime this spring:
We are defending our lands. We are defending our
interests. If the takfiris [Sunni Islamists] had not started attacking the
border Shia villages, we would not have been forced to act.
Undermining
the narrative of US officials that Iran ordered the mass entry of Hezbollah
fighters — see separate EA analysis — the commander says:
We started around the Sayyeda Zainab mosque [a shrine
near Damascus], then moved to the border villages, then Qusayr [re-captured by
the Syrian military in June]. There are members fighting throughout the
country, but not in huge numbers….
The battle is intense. The takfiris are committed.
They want to destroy Syria and we will not let them.
The commander says that 112 Hezbollah fighters were killed in the battle for Qusayr. Chulov does not say if he offered a figure for losses since June.(EAWorldView)
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