Hezbollah's Role In Syrian Conflict

[Propaganda_of_the_Deed]

Hezbollah's role in Syrian conflict ushers new reality for its supporters

Once denied by its leaders, the Shia militant group's involvement in Syria is now a badge of honour for families burying their dead

Martin Chulov in Beirut

The Guardian, Friday 24 May 2013 18.51 BST

Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade Fadi Mohammed al-Jazzar during his funeral in southern Beirut. Photograph: Str/AFP/Getty Images

The workmen had been busy in the room where Hezbollah honours its dead. In one corner of the martyrs' cemetery in south Beirut, four women shrouded in black sat cross-legged near a new grave, reading from the Qu'ran. Metres away, the yellow flag of the militant group covered a freshly covered hole in a white marble floor. The scent of burning incense wafted across the room.

Another grave, its concrete seal barely dry, had been partly completed nearby. There were seven fresh holes in all; and the grave digger was never far away. More bodies were due on Friday. At this rate, the tiny room – a shrine to Hezbollah's cause as much as to the men who died fighting for it – would soon be full.

The flurry of activity in the martyrs' cemetery marks the busiest period for the militant movement since the 2006 war with Israel, in which an estimated 400 of its members died. All the new graves here have been dug in the past 10 days. Many others have been sealed with the familiar yellow and green standard in villages across Lebanon where the rumblings of a very different war have now boiled over into sacrifice and loss.

The newly arrived dead have ushered in a new reality for Hezbollah, one that has taken more than two years of uprising and war in neighbouring Syria to publicly acknowledge: all the fallen have died fighting Arabs in Syria, not Jews in Israel. Such a shift in orientation, for so long denied by the group's leadership, is now being worn as a badge of honour by the families of the dead.

Many of the next of kin interviewed by the Guardian said that their sons and brothers had been defending Lebanon from foreign plotters – in this case Salafists from the east rather than Zionists from the south. "The threat to us comes from all directions," said one grieving relative in the Beirut suburb of Chiyah on Friday. "But behind it all is the hidden hand of Israel."

The relative had come to the martyrs' cemetery to bury Taalab Fadl, who had been killed fighting rebels in the Syrian town of Qusair.

Men in olive green rode motorbikes up and down nearby roads, all closed by steel barriers while the body was prepared for burial in an adjoining funeral hall. A truck stopped on a street corner, blaring martyrdom hymns throughout the cavernous lanes and alleys of the party's heartland.

A brass band prepared for the 2pm arrival. It had used the visit hours earlier of an Iranian delegation to prepare, warming up with stirring revolutionary ballads, more than the sorrowful tones often associated with loss.

The Iranians, around 70 men in two buses, had all made their way to the new graves, politely asking their guides where each had been killed. The officials spent more time in front of one grave at the centre of the room, that of the last Hezbollah member to die in Syria before the uprising, Imad Mughniyeh, the group's key strategist and military leader who was killed by Israeli assassins in Damascus in February 2008. Some bowed in deference, stooping to touch the tomb's marble cover. Others slowly toured the room acknowledging all of the dead, new and old.

Next to Mughniyeh was a new arrival, Rabiah al-Saadi, covered uncharacteristically in a red flag. And alongside him was Hadi, the son of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Hadi had been killed by Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon in 1997.

A middle-aged man crouched in front of the grave of his 17-year son who also died in battle that year. One hand held the corner of the tomb and he sobbed uncontrollably into the other. As he rose to leave, he said: "Grief is the price we pay for love."

In the clandestine world of Hezbollah there is something revelatory about its graveyards; its members live with their secrets, but die stripped bare of them. As the tally of dead and injured has mounted over the past week, a clearer picture has emerged of the depth of the group's involvement in Syria, a battle that Nasrallah had long denied joining.

The impact of such a shift is resounding across Lebanon and beyond. Sectarian tensions, which have bubbled away as the crisis has worn on, are now more visible and potent than for many decades. "God help us," said one refugee from Qusair this week – a Sunni mother of three. "People say they are afraid of a world war. We want a world war rather than this. Either they let us die, or live with dignity."

In a series of speeches over the past two years, Nasrallah, who is rarely seen in public, has voiced unwavering support for Bashar al-Assad, whose regime has been essential to the group's power. But he has dismissed constant opposition claims that he was more than just a moral backer. In the past eight months, however, Hezbollah's leader has shifted tone, suggesting first that members were "not yet" involved in Syria, then highlighting the threat posed to Shia shrines there, particularly the Sayyida Zeinab mosque in Damascus, as a reason to consider stepping in.

This year, Hezbollah's television station, al-Manar, started playing a short video showing fighters near the Zeinab mosque – a tacit acknowledgement of the group's direct military support. Facebook posts about slain members appeared soon after. Then came tributes on Hezbollah channels and websites, all without details.

Its hand perhaps forced by the sheer volume of dead and wounded coming back from Qusair, the group has only this past week felt comfortable enough to drop the veil on its role in Syria. But even now, the graveyard clamour and pageantry of martyrdom has not led Hezbollah's leaders to address their direct involvement – a move that has profound implications both in Lebanon and across the region.

So far, justification is being left to the group's support base, much of which seems to be onside with the decision, citing a need to strike pre-emptively against rebel groups that they believe will come to fight them next.

"I am with Hezbollah in this decision, because it is better that we fight them there than here," said a Dahiyah resident, Mohammed Abdullah.

"People don't think critically. If Hezbollah want to do this, then that's OK. They believe that Hezbollah know what they are doing."

Another Dahiyah local echoed a sentiment widely heard among Hezbollah supporters – that Syria's opposition is al-Qaida-led and heading for Lebanon. "They are terrorists who pretend they are Muslims," said Zulfiqa Hamsa, 23. They want to take the weapons from Hezbollah and indirectly support the Zionists and the Jews.

"They have been afraid until now to say that Hezbollah have been involved in fighting in other countries because of international opinion."

Other supporters are equally comfortable with the shift in the group's raison d'etre. "Of course it's a big decision," said vendor Ala'a Attrass. "But it's necessary. You think there isn't sectarianism in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia? They are persecuting Shias there."

Lebanon's civilian leaders have largely remained mute over this week's events. By Friday, at least 30 Hezbollah members had returned in death shrouds. Many dozens more were injured. Its supporters estimated that the toll was much higher, with some well connected sources saying that a Syrian jet had mistakenly bombed a large group of Hezbollah members, killing up to 20 on Tuesday.

In the northern city of Baalbek – a strategic hub for Hezbollah, only 15 miles south of the frontline in Qusair – recent refugees were taking shelter from the war. Nearby, another of the group's main zones, Hermel, where its founding parade was held in 1982 and the group was mandated by Iran to fight Israel, was further down the path of conditioning its supporters to the change. Members here had begun erecting martyrs' posters to pay homage to the dead – something that is yet to be done in Beirut, where fading banners of the 2006 dead remain prominent.

On a visit to Baalbekon Thursday, Australia's foreign minister, Bob Carr, said the week's events had marked a groundshift in Syria's war. The deteriorating situation there, he said, "could become a sectarian civil war across the region. The prospect of it being a Shia, Sunni war across more than one country and this would be a huge tragedy.

"This is profoundly serious now. We could see the unravelling of nation states and the agreed boundaries that we have seen in the Middle East."

Back in Dahiyah, there was little reflection on the broader issues beyond an existential view of "us versus them", which has morphed into "we're better off getting them first".

"Fighting Israel has a different meaning and taste than fighting in Syria," said Mohammed Abdullah.

Asked which tastes better, he replied: "Israel, for sure."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/24/hezbollah-syria-new-reality-supporters

[Thurston]

Better to fight the nawasib in Qusayr then in any city in Lebanon

[Propaganda_of_the_Deed]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/24/hezbollah-and-the-syrian-pit/

Why Washington and Tel Aviv Want Hezbollah to Keep Fighting in al-Qusayr

Hezbollah and the Syrian Pit

by FRANKLIN LAMB

Homs Province, Syria.

During a tour of some of the neighborhoods in Homs, Syria’s third largest city after Aleppo and Damascus, with a pre-conflict population of approximately 800,000 (nearly half Homs residents have fled over the past two years) located maybe about 22 miles NE of the current hot-spot of al-Qusayr, this observer engaged is a few interesting conversations. More accurately labeled diatribes–with some long bearded Sunni fundamentalists who claimed they came from Jabhat al Nusra, aka Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ash-Shām, “Front of Defense for the People of Greater Syria”), and were preparing to return to al Qusayr to fight “the deniers of Allah”!

It is the strategic crossroads town of al-Qusayr, and its environs, which whoever controls, can block supplies and reinforcements to and from Damascus and locations north and east. For those seeking the ouster of Syria’s government, including NATO countries led by Washington, were their “allies” to lose control of al-Qusayr it would mean the cutting off of supplies from along the Lebanese border, from which most of the local opposition’s weapons flow and fighters have been smuggled over the past 26 months. If the Assad regime forces regain control of the city, Washington believes they will move north and conquer current opposition positions in Homs and Rastan, both areas being dependent on support from Lebanon and al-Qusayr. Some analysts are saying this morning, with perhaps a bit of hyperbole that as al-Qusayr goes so goes Syria and the National Lebanese Resistance, led by Hezbollah.

If government forces can retake the city it will put an end to the Saudi-Qatari green light, in exchange for controlling al-Qusayr, of the setting up a Salafist emirate in the area which would constitute a threat to the nearly two dozen Shia Lebanese inhabited villages of the Hermel region. If the Syrian army re-takes al-Qusayr, it would also avoid the likelihood of a full-fledged sectarian war on both sides of the border.

Meeting with a few self-proclaimed al Nusra Front militiaman last week, in Homs, one who spoke excellent British English they had plenty to say to this observer about current events in al Qusayr to which they planned to return the next day to fight enemies “by all means Allah gives us”. One added, when asked if they had confronted Hezbollah: “Of course but Hezbollah can’t defeat us. Eventually they will withdraw from Syria on orders from Tehran. But first enshallah we will bleed Hezbollah with thousands of cut throats”, he boasted raucously as nearby kids cheered and gave V for victory signs, smiles, giggles and cackling all around.

Such Jihadist rants are music to more than a few US congressional and White House ears these days, as once more in this region, a major US-Israeli carefully calibrated regime change project, appears to be falling short.

This week, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted overwhelmingly to arm elements of the Syrian opposition with a recommendation to “provide defense articles, defense services, and military training” directly to the opposition throughout Syria, who naturally, will “have been properly and fully vetted and share common values and interests with the United States”. History teaches that the vetting part would not happen if the scheme is implemented, despite only a few in Congress objecting.

Perhaps lacking some of his father Ron Paul’s insights into US hegemonic plans for this region, Senator Rand Paul did object to the measure and he fumed at his colleagues: ”This is an important moment. You will be funding, today, the allies of al Qaeda. It’s an irony you cannot overcome.”

According to the Hill Rag weekly, veteran war-hawks Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, flashed a knowing smile but gave no rebuttal, perhaps realizing that Senator Paul is a bit untutored on the reality of current Obama Administration policy in Syria generally, and for al-Qusayr, in particular.

Contrary to the shock and anger expressed by Senator Paul, American policy in Syria is to de facto assist allies of al Qaeda including the US “Terrorist-listed” Al-Nusra Front as well as anti-Iran, anti-Shia and anti-Hezbollah groups gathering near al-Qusayr. These groups currently include, but not limited to, Ahl al-Athr Brigade, Ahrar al-Sham, Basha’ir al-Nasr Brigades, Commandos Brigades, Fajr al-Islam Brigades, Independent Farouq Brigades, Khalid bin al-Waleed Brigade, Liwa al-Haq, Liwa al-Sadiq, Al-Nour Brigade, Al-Qusayr Brigade, Suqur al-Fatah, Al-Wadi Brigades, Al-Waleed Brigades and the 77^th Brigade among the scores of other Jihadist cells currently operating in, near, or rushing to, al-Qusayr.

Their victory according to US Senate sources would be a severe blow and challenge to Iran’s rising influence in the region and Iran’s leadership of the increasing regional and global resistance to the Zionist occupiers of Palestine in favor of the full right to return of every ethnically cleansed Palestinian refugee.

While Congress was considering what else to do to help the “rebels”, on 5/22/13, no fewer than 11 so-called “World powers” foreign ministers, including Turkey and Jordan, met in Amman to condem, with straight faces, even, tongues in cheek, the “flagrant intervention” in Syria by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters.” They urged their immediate withdrawal from the war-torn country. In a joint statement, the “Friends of Syria” group called “for the immediate withdrawal of Hezbollah and Iranian fighters, and other regime allied foreign fighters from Syrian territory.”

Not one peep of course, about the Salafist-Jihadist-Takfuri fighters from more than 30 countries now ravaging Syria’s population. The truth of the matter is that the governments represented by their foreign ministers this week in Amman, will follow the US lead which means they will assist, despite some cautionary public words, virtually any ally of al-Qaeda whose fighting in Syria may be seen as weakening the Assad government and its supporters in Iran and Lebanon.

According to one long-term Congressional aid to a prominent Democratic Senator from the West Coast, while the Amman gathering described Hezbollah’s armed presence in Syria as “a threat to regional stability”, the White House could not be more pleased that Hezbollah is in al-Qusayr.” When pressed via email for elaboration, the Middle East specialist offered the view that the White House agrees with Israel that al-Qusayr may become Hezbollah’s Dien Bein Phu and the Syrian conflict could well turn into Iran’s “Vietnam”. ..Quite a few folks around here (Capitol Hill) think al-Qusayr will remove Hezbollah from the list of current threats to Israel. And the longer they keep themselves bogged down in quick-sand over there the better for Washington and Tel Aviv. Hopefully they will remain in al-Qusayr for a long hot summer and gut their ranks in South Lebanon via battle field attrition and Israel can make its move and administer a coup de grace.”

The staffer followed up with another email with only one short sentence and a smiley face:

“Of course the White House and its concrete wall-solid ally might be wrong!”

The dangers for Hezbollah are obvious – that it may be drawn ever deeper into a bottomless pit of conflict in Syria that could leave it severely depleted and prey to a hoped for death-blow from Israel.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and other party officials have dismissed that possibility.

The next few weeks may tell.

[siraatoaliyinhaqqun]

Well qusayr for Hizbollah is securing shiite towns and influx of terrorist FSA weapons. So there will be a tug of war. I won't be surprised if the FSA start attacking Israel to blame Hezbollah

[pakistanyar]

This is the first time in 10 years Al-Qaida is actually somewhere to be found. Usually they never fight like men and only bomb masjids and kill civilians then run away.

But this time these scumbags are actually coming out of there holes. It should be an honor dying in the fight against Al-Qaeda.

[Abdul Qaim]

This is the first time in 10 years Al-Qaida is actually somewhere to be found. Usually they never fight like men and only bomb masjids and kill civilians then run away.

But this time these scumbags are actually coming out of there holes. It should be an honor dying in the fight against Al-Qaeda.

Just as it was to fight and die alongside Imam 'Ali (as) at Siffin or Nahrawan ...

[south-lebanon]

SHN just confirmed it in his Address on Liberation day, hezbollah is fighting against an Israeli project and fighting for its survival in Syria.

[Islamic Salvation]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdDx333qe-I Edited May 25, 2013 by Islamic Salvation

[peace seeker]

let us pray for HezbAllah victory and always remember them in our duas and prayers in sha Allah

[Greg Potemkin]

let us pray for HezbAllah victory and always remember them in our duas and prayers in sha Allah

When did Sayyid Hassan give this speech?

[peace seeker]

this is part of his most recent speech on 25th May. could not find full speech yet

[Greg Potemkin]

Thanks, for the info Peace Seeker. Do post the full speech if and when you get it (preferably with English subtitles).

[peace seeker]

Welcome brother Greg, and hope that whoever finds it first posts it, with English subtitles God willing

[Noah-]

let us pray for HezbAllah victory and always remember them in our duas and prayers in sha Allah

The victory is yours!!! God's aids and blessing are coming towards you...inshallah....the good men and jinns are coming to take your side and strike the enemies very hard!!! there, in Shaam, you will build your bases....... The enemies will have no choice but to accept defeats.

[skylight2]

english dubbed via press tv

[south-lebanon]

I don't mind Ali Rizk at all, its not like he has a easy job to do, and his voice might sound annoying to you because your not used to an Australian Accent on a person that has arabic as their mother tongue.

[Abdul Qaim]

I don't mind Ali Rizk at all, its not like he has a easy job to do, and his voice might sound annoying to you because your not used to an Australian Accent on a person that has arabic as their mother tongue.

The accent doesn't bother him, it's his nasal voice. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I wish many of the Lebanese I know spoke with his accent, actually.

[Islamic Salvation]

He does a very good job staying close to what the Sayyid is saying and for that alone he deserves great praise.

Edited May 26, 2013 by Islamic Salvation

[Abdul Qaim]

I did learn it yet I don't have career aspirations for reading a translated transcript on TV.

He's translating live, I believe. AFAIK, Hizbullah don't issue a transcript of Sayyid Nasrallah's speeches prior to the event.

[Islamic Salvation]

Yes he is translating it live.

[Propaganda_of_the_Deed]

Two rockets hit Hezbollah district of Beirut

Two rockets hit a district controlled by the Hezbollah organisation, officials and residents were quoted as saying by news agencies.

Tension has been high over the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

On Saturday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promised his supporters they would prevail in Syria, where they are backing President Bashar al-Assad.

There was no immediate indication who had fired the rockets but Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said the projectiles, believed to be 107mm rockets with an 8-km (5-mile) range, had been fired from a position to the south-east.

Dozens of militants from Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim organisation, are said to have been killed in recent fighting alongside Syrian troops, who face a mainly Sunni Muslim opposition.

The fiery speech by the Hezbollah leader had raised fears that the involvement of his fighters in Syria would have repercussions in Lebanon, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Beirut.

The leader of Lebanon's mainly Sunni March 14th movement, former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, said that what Hezbollah was doing in Syria was "political and military suicide", our correspondent notes.

'Failed to explode'

Mr Assad is fighting to end a revolt against his rule which began just over two years ago and has left at least 80,000 people dead and made refugees of some 1.5 million.

An unnamed Lebanese security source told AFP news agency the missiles were Grad rockets, a Soviet-made weapon.

One rocket struck a car showroom, causing injuries and damaging vehicles.

Reports suggest those injured were all Syrian workers.

The second rocket hit a residential building. An unconfirmed report said that rocket had not exploded.

A Reuters news agency photo showed the face of a building pockmarked by what appeared to be shrapnel, while video showed shattered windows blown across a living-room.

Another photo showed dazed men with cuts to their legs being treated in the street by friends.

"This incident is probably related to the conflict in Syria," AFP's security source said.

The Syrian conflict has heightened Lebanon's own sectarian divisions, at times spilling into open conflict.

Fighting in Lebanon's northern town of Tripoli between factions supporting the opposing sides in Syria has left at least 25 people dead in the past week.

Inside Syria itself, opposition activists said many Hezbollah militants were killed on Saturday during fighting for the western town of Qusair, just across the border from Lebanon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...e-east-22671565

Two rockets hit Lebanese capital

Two rockets have hit the southern district of Zahyieh in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, Press TV reports.

Several people were wounded in the incident that took place on Sunday, according to Lebanese security sources. Some vehicles and homes were also damaged.

The security sources said 107-mm rockets were used in the attack.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the rocket attack so far.

Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, who visited at the site of the rocket attack, said it was an “act of sabotage.”

“The rockets were fired from a secluded area, southeast of the scene of the incident,” he stated.

“I believe this was an act of sabotage,” Charbel added, when asked about the motive for the attack. “I hope what is happening in Syria will not happen in Lebanon.”

The rocket incident in Beirut comes amid recent clashes between supporters and opponents of the Syrian government in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, which have led to the death of more than two dozen people.

http://www.presstv.i...banese-capital/

Edited May 26, 2013 by Propaganda_of_the_Deed

[AJ 12]

Some Quotes about what happened

Effort to create strife in Lebanon

Lebanon’s caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said the incident was “an attempt to tamper with stability and security.”

“What is certain is that the [rocket attacks] were an attempt to create a fissure among Lebanese ranks and drag the strife to Lebanon,” he said, according to the NNA.

Syrian rebel claims it

But another Syrian rebel, Ammar al-Wawi, told Lebanon's LBC Television the attack was a warning to authorities in Beirut to restrain Hezbollah. "In coming days we will do more than this. This is a warning to Hezbollah and the Lebanese government to keep Hezbollah's hands off Syria," he said

Then the Fsa organisation denys it

“We have nothing to do with the attacks and we issued an official statement denying any involvement in such an act,” FSA spokesman Louay Meqdad

Abu Ali Qbeisi, the owner of the car dealership that was struck

“Just as Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah vowed victory, we will not be frightened by them,” he said. “Whatever they do, we are not afraid and long live Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah,” Qbeis said.

Edited May 26, 2013 by AJ 12

[GreyMatter]

I heard a great one today that the Shiite Hezbollah have purposely captured the South of Lebanon for the past 30 years, to protect the Israeli land from the willing and brave North Lebanese Sunni fighters, lol.

Edited May 26, 2013 by GreyMatter

[peace seeker]

Abu Ali Qbeisi, the owner of the car dealership that was struck

“Just as Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah vowed victory, we will not be frightened by them,” he said. “Whatever they do, we are not afraid and long live Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah,” Qbeis said.

mashaAllah, may Allah reward him :)

and may Allah reward all the Martyrs and their families, and extended families, loved ones, neighborhoods in sha Allah

duas, duas duas pleasssse pleeeeeeasssse duas for Hezb Allah

[Noah-]

I heard a great one today that the Shiite Hezbollah have purposely captured the South of Lebanon for the past 30 years, to protect the Israeli land from the willing and brave North Lebanese Sunni fighters, lol.

And why the brave North Lebanese Sunni fighters do not join their Sunni brothers in Gaza and West Bank?

Or why Hizb does not share its friendship in public? After all who can do anything about it when Sunni Arab states or Turkey have cooperation with Israel...? Formal ties, military and intelligence cooperation, business and etc...

[Ugly Jinn]

Bad move by Hizbullah, they will pay dearly. This will give Israel/US an excuse to go full out.

Hizbullah shouldn't have involved themselves, especially knowing Assad's days are numbered.

[awaiting_for_the.12th]

Hizbullah shouldn't have involved themselves, especially knowing Assad's days are numbered.

Asad's days were numbered 2 years ago. Isn't that what the Sunni's been crying for last 2 years?

Except that it has not happened so far. It wont happen

[peace seeker]

every living creature, including the angel of death himself (as), has numbered days.

[Greg Potemkin]

Bad move by Hizbullah, they will pay dearly. This will give Israel/US an excuse to go full out.

I hate to say it, but I am afraid Ugly Jinn may be right on this one. This may give the US administration the excuse to intervene, and declare a no fly zone, to be followed by airstrikes etc.

[peace seeker]

speculation speculation

[Ugly Jinn]

Asad's days were numbered 2 years ago. Isn't that what the Sunni's been crying for last 2 years?

Except that it has not happened so far. It wont happen

That's because Obama is passive unlike Bush. If mightier militaries than Syria can be toppled within hours (Iraq), removing Assad is a piece of cake. But Obama doesn't want the aftermath like Iraq. Removing Assad is easy, the aftermath is the reason for cautious for the US.

And I will quote your post above again when it does happen.

I hate to say it, but I am afraid Ugly Jinn may be right on this one. This may give the US administration the excuse to intervene, and declare a no fly zone, to be followed by airstrikes etc.

The irony is that I am on Hizbullah's side (as long as they stick within their boundaries), but I'm not oblivious to reality. Even if US doesn't involve itself directly, their indirect help in a significant manner to Israel will be justified.

The only positive is that Obama is somewhat a passive President, is not trigger happy like Bush, but there is so much passiveness a government can take before it is forced to intervene.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Ugly Jinn

[Robin Hood]

And what exactly is HA doing in Syria?

[ShiaBen]

I hate to say it, but I am afraid Ugly Jinn may be right on this one. This may give the US administration the excuse to intervene, and declare a no fly zone, to be followed by airstrikes etc.

I see where you're going with this brother but I'm afraid I have to disagree on this I think the likelihood is quite possibly slim. Sure there have been talks of it from U.S. England and so on and so forth however Libya's situation was far different. Libya didn't even have the support of Iran nor any of the anti-Zionist nations. It was obvious as day light how much of a hypocrite that Qadafi was. Had he been a good leader like Assad, perhaps he'd have a lot more loyalists and supporters behind his back and he wouldn't die the brutal death that he did. Unfortunately, now it seems like Libya will get worse now under U.S. influence...

[Martyrdom]

That's because Obama is passive unlike Bush. If mightier militaries than Syria can be toppled within hours (Iraq), removing Assad is a piece of cake. But Obama doesn't want the aftermath like Iraq. Removing Assad is easy, the aftermath is the reason for cautious for the US.

And I will quote your post above again when it does happen.

The irony is that I am on Hizbullah's side (as long as they stick within their boundaries), but I'm not oblivious to reality. Even if US doesn't involve itself directly, their indirect help in a significant manner to Israel will be justified.

The only positive is that Obama is somewhat a passive President, is not trigger happy like Bush, but there is so much passiveness a government can take before it is forced to intervene.

Obama is not passive at all he's using the rebels to do the fighting for him . And syria is not like iraq US can't get directly involved for the simple reason why the Russians veto foreign intervention twice in UN. A direct war on syria is a direct war on Russia Iran and it would mean the annaliation of Israel. As for Hizballah the takfiris said many times and from the beginning that after they finish with syria they are coming for Hizballah . They are not just going to wait their turn. Qusayer is a strategic area for Hizballah thats the weapon supply route from syria to Hizballah . The isralis and takfiris knew exactly what they were doing by trying to completely cut it off but yet again Hizballah was two steps ahead of them they did not expect Hizballah to get invovled the way they are now.

[hasanhh]

I hate to say it, but I am afraid Ugly Jinn may be right on this one. This may give the US administration the excuse to intervene, and declare a no fly zone, to be followed by airstrikes etc.

29May13

Not likely. The Chairman, JCS, Dempsey said the terrorist casualties are 90% by gov't ground forces and 10% air power.

29May'13 The UN's Human Rights Council and the US have condemned the presence of Hezbullah fighters in Quaysr. Another report says the Styrian gov't now controls 80% of this town/area. (No "town" is left.)

29May13 The BBC ran a report on the desperate plight of Syrian women in Jordan. Such as be prostitutes or they and their children starve. Where is the UN's Human Rights Council now? Oh, I suspect they enjoy this because muslimas are not as trashy as Western christian girls, and as the UN sees it, these muslimas "need to be trashed down" to their gutter level. They also ran stories where girls are sold as wives to men who break then up then abandon them.

30May13 RT.com is quoting the French as saying there are 3000-4000 Hezbullah fighters in Syria, dismissing other estimates of 3000-10,000.

Edited May 30, 2013 by hasanhh