Hezbollah Announces Support For Syrian Government To Face Rebels

Secretary General of Hezbollah Naim Qassem. (Wikimedia Commons/Tasnim News Agency/HamedPoppor)

JAKARTA - Secretary-General Hezbollah Naim Qassem in a televised speech promised that his party would support the Suriah Government under President Bashar al-Assad who was facing an uprising.

"They will not be able to achieve their goals even though what they have done in the past, and we as Hezbollah will be on the Syrian side in thwarting the goal of this aggression as best we can," Qassem said on Thursday, adding the "aggression" was sponsored by the United States and Israel., reported Al Jazeera December 6.

Qassem's comments came hours after Syrian opposition forces seized the strategic city of Homs in central Syria, their latest victory in a flash attack launched eight days ago.

Qassem did not provide details on how Hezbollah would support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but said the Iran-backed group would do whatever it could.

It is known, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, launched a new attack from their stronghold in northwestern Syria last week.

Over the weekend, rebels seized Aleppo, the country's second-largest city, before moving south and entering Pest on Thursday.

Hezbollah himself is currently implementing a fragile US-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel, after a year-long war that has brought much destruction, especially in southern Lebanon.

More than 280,000 people have been displaced by recent fighting, according to the United Nations World Food Program in a post on X.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an end to fighting, saying the escalating conflict in Syria was the result of a "chronological collective failure" of diplomacy.

He also called for immediate humanitarian access for all civilians in need in Syria and returned to the UN-facilited political process to end the bloodshed.

"The thousands of civilians are in danger in the burned area," Guterres told reporters.

"We see bitter fruit from the chronic collective failure of a previous de-escalation arrangement to produce a true national ceasefire or a serious political process to implement Security Council resolutions," he said.

He urged "all influential people to do their part for the Syrian people who have suffered a long time" and said all parties are obliged to protect civilians.

While President al-Assad relies heavily on the support of Russia and Iran over the most intense years of the Syrian war, some opposition groups have relations with Turkey.