In an exclusive two-part interview with Al-Monitor, Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, dismissed the April 6 US military strike against the Shayrat air base in Syria as “muscle flexing” and a “one-time incident.”
Speaking April 8 in Beirut, Hezbollah's number 2 also called the missile strike a “blatant and unjustified attack.” Qassem argued, “There was no investigation into what actually happened in Khan Sheikhoun,” which on April 4 had been the target of the apparent chemical weapons attack that led US President Donald Trump to order the missile strike as a warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom he blamed for the incident.
