Hizbullah Says 3 Dead, 14 Hurt in 'Self-Defense' in Syria as Opposition Slams 'Intervention' in Homs

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Three Lebanese Shiites have been killed in fighting in Syria, a Hizbullah official said Sunday, as the Syrian opposition accused the Lebanese group of intervening on the side of the regime.

"Two Lebanese Shiites living in Syria were killed and at least 14 others wounded in clashes with rebels," the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity, later adding that one of the wounded had also died.

He said they were acting in "self-defense", without specifying if they were Hizbullah members.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the three slain Lebanese were members of pro-regime militias who had been trained by Hizbullah.

Earlier on Sunday, the main bloc of the Syrian opposition accused Hizbullah of "military intervention" in Syria, calling it a danger to regional peace and security.

The Syrian National Council (SNC) said members of the group on Saturday attacked "three Syrian villages in the Qusayr region near the Lebanese border."

The operation in Homs province led not only to "civilian casualties and the exodus of hundreds of people," but also "stoked sectarian tensions" in the area, the SNC said in a statement.

The SNC said Hizbullah was employing "heavy weapons openly and under the auspices of the Syrian regime army."

This is a "serious threat to Syrian-Lebanese relations and regional peace and security," it said, adding that the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati has a responsibility to end this "aggression."

Later on Sunday, Louay al-Meqdad, spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Free Syrian Army, accused Hizbullah of shelling Syrian territory with artillery and rocket launchers from bases inside Lebanon.

“Hizbullah has deployed in five towns inside Syrian territory and it is combing the areas it has seized,” Meqdad told Future TV.

“Hizbullah has declared an open war against the Syrian people and we call on the Lebanese president (Michel Suleiman) to intervene,” he added.

Hizbullah and its allies in the ruling March 8 coalition back Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, but the March 14 opposition alliance supports the rebellion.

The Shiite party occasionally announces the death of one of its fighters killed "carrying out his jihadist duty," but without clarification.

In October 2012, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged that party members had fought Syrian rebels, but said they were acting as individuals and not under the party's direction.

Nasrallah clarified that the Hizbullah fighters were killed while defending Lebanese-inhabited border towns inside Syria. He explained that there are 23 Syrian border towns and 12 farms that are inhabited by Lebanese residents of various religious beliefs, adding that around 30,000 Lebanese residents live in these towns.

“The residents of these towns took the decision to stay and defend themselves against the armed groups and did not engage in the battle between the regime and the opposition,” Hizbullah's leader added.

On Saturday, the Local Coordination Committees -- a grassroots network of activists on the ground in Syria -- reported fighting between rebels and members of Hizbullah around Qusayr.

It said they were trying to break into the rebel-held city, which has been under daily army bombardment for the past year.

Comments 43
Thumb andre.jabbour 11 years

After you're done cleaning Syria from thei shabiha, come and help us clean Lebanon from its shabiha.

Thumb primesuspect 11 years

Hizballa is a cancer, make sure they rush before we all end up dead.

Thumb barbar 11 years

People like the two of you are the problem with the Arab world and Lebanon in particular. Blatant racism can get you no where. Bring yourselves to the 21st century.

Thumb barbar 11 years

He's clearly an atheist/secular March 14 devotee. Stop bringing up the Holocaust and making us Lebanese look tasteless.

Missing zanzibar 11 years

Whats the diffirence between cutting up children and bombing children leaving them in pieces as israel has done and will continue doing? And if you were referring to the houla massacre, 5il this day, only God and those who comitted the massacre know the identity of who did it. Its not a fact that they were shia. Im Muslim (sunni if we must be labeled) and we have been ordered in the quran not to repeat lies we cant verify. Israel as well as anyone who murders innocents is pure garbage and no religion is free from garbage followers especially in lebanon where all sects have their fair share of terrorists and murderers. By the way, during sabra and shatila massacres, women and children were cut to pieces and hacked by israeli-trained and supervised terrorists in case you forgot.

Missing realist 11 years

to kill sunis is heroic for nazi racists like you. If bashar tomorrow uses chemical weapons against the suni syrians you would be more than happy. Heroic? akeed, cause for people like you with infinite blind stupid grudges think you are killing sunis who are yazeed followers. Do you know my friend that i used to attend ashuras all the time? do you know that i was pro resistance up until 2005? i tell you this to show you that i am not racist and that it is the injustice and oppression of iran that made me change 180 degrees. You are not any better than israel and you are both enemies of the Arabs. Soon you and israel will be allies against the Arabs.

Thumb arzak-ya-libnan 11 years

i dont know how much clearer it could be... those villages and towns are IN Syria.. how some people can justify HA being there and condoning it is beyond me... so if the United States dives into civil war it is ok for HA to send "defenders" to Dearborn, Michigan to protect the majority Arabs? how ludicrous.. not to mention lacking in any substantial argument.

Thumb geha 11 years

yes moaten, bravo! you are the man!
either you think everybody is stupid or you are the stupid one :)
hizbushaitan is fighting alongside the Syrian regime in Syria. they are there to kill Syrians and not to defend xyz :)
these are not heroes: THEY ARE TRAITORS and terrorists.

Default-user-icon Mike K (Guest) 11 years

er...Zionism began before Hitler came to power, just saying

Missing greatpierro 11 years

its the other way round. The hizb attacked the villages.

Thumb mckinl 11 years

Yet they say nothing of Al Nusra terrorists, Takfiris taking over their country and imposing Sharia law ...

The majority of the Assad government, including the military, is Sunni ... moderate Sunni, yet the article fails to mention this ...

Thumb jcamerican 11 years

These are my thoughts exactly. How can all these sunnis in Syria and of course the outsiders cannot overrun Bashar and the 5000 HA fighters.

Thumb mckinl 11 years

"The majority of the Syrian military are Sunni, but most of the military leadership are Alawites."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Armed_Forces

Thumb barbar 11 years

They're Sunnis who are scared for their families and believe fighting with the government will guarantee their children's safety. Obviously Alawites are the ones in charge.

Missing mohammad_ca 11 years

that's because they have mandatory service ya zakzak...the top brass of the military is almost exclusively alawite...what does that tell you?

Missing mohammad_ca 11 years

they're sunnis becuase they have mandatory service and they are not allowing those who finished their service to leave because the country is in a "state of war"...but the top brass is almost exclusively alawite, you know...the guys that get the money and don't risk their lives.

Thumb arzak-ya-libnan 11 years

Syrian were Syrians?? so why did Assad not see his population as such and allow them into the rule? why did he save the best spots for the Allawi Syrians.. All Syrians are equal huh? but some Syrians are more equal than others...

Missing mohammad_ca 11 years

actually FT, your friends in hizbocrap do not accept membership unless your shiite, so your statement is quite false.

Missing samiam 11 years

dude, unfortunately with these types of conflicts you will have the extremists converge like they did in Afghanistan and other places. ASSad and others could have avoided this almost 2 years ago, but decided another course of action.

I am not defending these extremists (hate any kind of extremists actually), but ASSad did this on his own. He could have taken a different course of action if he really cared about Syria instead of his hold on the country.

Thumb arzak-ya-libnan 11 years

sure sure FT.. i am not denying that no Sunnis or Christians were part of the government.. come on...but take into percentages and you will see that the over..over..overwhelming sect that is represented in the government.. top military brass.. and other high places are Alawites..this regime was sectarian.. no two ways about it.

Thumb primesuspect 11 years

shias never were the problem, only hizballa is because of its terror policies. I have shia friends everywhere.

Missing samiam 11 years

actually because of iran and its policies/proxies.

none of this sh!t was going on pre-1979 at least close to this extent.

Default-user-icon Db (Guest) 11 years

Funny hearing Stargate call Jews the trash of Europe. Little does he realize that most Israelis are Jews thrown out of Arab countries. If Israel is trash...what is Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world? It's like a garbage man telling a Nobel prize winner he's an idiot.

Default-user-icon John Marina (Guest) 11 years

SNC say, Hizballah is posing a serious threat......... and regional peace security etc. etc. it looks like people in that area have lost their senses of logic and thinking. Just one track minded brain washed robots brain washed and hypnotized by their religions and money hunger. The mercineries and some the SNC are fighting for money backed by the USA/Gulf. We in Canada and US have no respect for you people simply because you are destroying your own country and citizens,hired by US/Gulf money, the whole world is despising your attitude and cheap manners.

Thumb geha 11 years

filthy shia extremists/terrorists.

Default-user-icon A.Templar (Guest) 11 years

Shiagate Phalestini ..

Hizballah scare tactics placing the blame squarely on Israel, the big bad wolf, are only hallow rubbish.
You should seriously seek another bad wolf, people are no longer buying it. Simply because it has been over used since 1948 by Syria and your Phalestini tribes for their own political survival. Furthermore, in reality Hizballah caused more harm in Lebanon than Israel ever did.
If you're set on fighting Israel, buy a one way ticket to Gaza..

Missing samiam 11 years

so Hassan lied about the involvement in Syria among many things --who is going to believe a word they say any more or have said in the past.

saints and 'resistance', they are not--mercenaries and thugs, they are.

Default-user-icon Truth (Guest) 11 years

Hope they're all decimated in Syria and then Lebanon. The true face of the so-called pilgrims is there! These are the Saints! Contract-killers, paid by the basij, operated by remote-control, roaming the wolrd, from Argentina, to Thailand, to Azerbaidjan, to Egypt, to Bulgaria lately, not to mention all the political serial murders in Lebanon which had gone unnoticed to the general public in the early eighties, and are exposed in broad daylight today by the STL, and every Lebanese and every foreign jurisdiction that had to deal with hizbollah terrorist achievments. This is the true face of the terrorist organisation called hizbollah.

Missing aounophobia 11 years

Self-defense? WTF ?? self-defense applies for lebanese on their soil aggressed by foreigners, like our glorious warriors resisted the syrians in achrafieh and zahle, and the israelis in bent jbeil and maroun el ras. this is self defense!

not when lebanese go fight others on their homeland. that would be self-defense for the others

Missing peace 11 years

self defense? LOL "The SNC said Hizbullah was employing "heavy weapons openly and under the auspices of the Syrian regime army.""

they worked with the syrian army thus a foreign army... that is not self defense to me but collaboration with a foreign army...

Thumb kanaandian 11 years

Rebels are not targeting Hezbollah, they are targeting Shiias, sectarian soldiers they truly are.

Default-user-icon Bubba (Guest) 11 years

The Christians in the free areas of Lebanon were called Jews and IDF apologists during the war years mostly by the greater Syria dummies and the likes, so don't mind their illiterate imbecile offspring.

Missing peace 11 years

isn t the gvt calling for disassociation? seems hezbis don t listen to their gvt... no surprise, they don t care about the lebanese gvt...

Missing samiam 11 years

yeah, but Hassan brought up elections yesterday for whatever reason. Iran and Syria do not have free 'elections' and HA doesn't want them here.

Missing realist 11 years

The funniest thing for me is when i read anti israel comments and lessons in patriotism from Aounis..ahleeen lol.. go talk to your 'hero' fayez karam. The revenge for wesam 7asan is coming and your aoun will leave you behind, mark my words.

Default-user-icon Mehdi (Guest) 11 years

Brilliant bull excrement Hassins, "self defense" yeah that's the ticket, I guess when the Shiites fought the PLO in the camps war the PLO was also only engaged in "self defense" of the Palestinian populated camps inside Lebanon against invading Shiite terrorists. What will they think of next.

Default-user-icon Norm (Guest) 11 years

My comment is to those who keep complaining about the involvement of the Shia brothers from lebanon, but no mention about the "Jihadists' from all over the world killing our Syrian brothers and sisters , and destroying the beautiful country of Syria. You are exposing your true "color" by doing that. SHAME ON YOU!!!

Missing un520 11 years

Hizbollah is about to discover a quagmire of the kind that the IDF discovered in Lebanon. Superior weaponery means little in this street by street battle. The nummber of body bags coming to shia villages and urban areas wil exceed those killed by the israelis simply because they dont have monoply on the guerilla advantage in the war in Syria. Furthermore they will continue to suffer losses for a long long time because of the nature of the conflict in Syria. I am talking about years no matter if Assad go or not. Its not like a 40 day Israeli attack, its not a war against occupiers where they decide when to attack or not, its not a war against occupiers where they are fighting with high morale forever because its their own land. Welcome to the quagmire of Syria that you have entered with open eyes, Nasrallah.

Missing feekahraba 11 years

How about we change your name to Fluteboy

Default-user-icon bennie (Guest) 11 years

we wish you all great success. what a bunch of bloodthirsty losers.

Missing cedars 11 years

Say good bye to the Pilgrims.

Missing cedars 11 years

When Nasoura comes on TV and says he does not need Iran and Syrian to send him weapons then why is he exporting humans to Syria and Bulgaria? what's the cost for that? simply jihadist? Does he want every Lebanese to be dog sniffed anytime they leave Beirut Airport to any Country in the world? You want to fight the evil then let's go to Golan, hit them hard over there to get out of a land they took by force from your Syrian brothers. This is where the real face off should occur so that Lebanon as a country and people do not pay the price again of the 2006 war.

Default-user-icon The Truth (Guest) 11 years

More resistance against Israel by killing people in Syria.