Hezbollah Leader Defends Involvement in Syria
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is basing his involvement in the Syrian war on grounds that are both religious and having to do with the conflict with Israel, writes Jean Aziz.
Over the past two days, Beirut has been busy pondering a key question: Why did Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah choose to give a speech this week, after he had been scheduled to make a televised appearance to Hezbollah media, from an unknown location, on May 9? What recent developments made it necessary reschedule the speech to April 30?
On that evening, Hezbollah’s secretary-general said that his speech was moved forward because the issues are too numerous and complex to be covered in a single speech and because the issues are of two types: Some are purely Lebanese while others are foreign-linked. He decided to address the purely Lebanese issues on May 9 and the foreign-linked ones on April 30.
However, circles in Beirut close to Hezbollah said that there were additional reasons:
One is the issue of Hezbollah members, or Lebanese Shiite gunmen, fighting in Syria. That issue had become the subject of deep and serious discussion at various levels, especially in the Lebanese Shiite arena, including within Hezbollah. Since that problem appeared, Hezbollah kept promoting its version of the events. Hezbollah’s version is two-pronged: 1) Hezbollah, the No. 1 Shiite organization in Lebanon, is defending Lebanese citizens living in Lebanese villages located near the northeast corner of Lebanon. Those villages lie inside Syria as a result of the unclear border line between the two countries. The border there has been unclear since the two countries were formed in 1920s. 2) Hezbollah is protecting Sayyeda Zeinab’s shrine in Damascus’ eastern suburbs. That shrine is particularly revered by Shiites.
