Israel Matzav

Syrian rebels to Hezbullah: Stop fighting or else

The Free Syrian Army has given Hezbullah 48 hours to stop fighting or 'face elimination' (Hat Tip: The Other McCain).

Hezbollah was on high alert Thursday after Syrian rebels warned that they would "eliminate it from inside the Lebanese lands" unless it stops fighting for President Bashar Assad's forces, giving the militant group a 48-hour deadline to accede to this demand.

Al-Arabiya adds (Hat Tip: MFS - The Other News):

Syrian activist Hadi al-Abdallah told Al Arabiya that Hezbollah, in response to FSA threats, has begun sending reinforcements to the Syrian borders.

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

On Sunday, a Hezbollah official said clashes on the Syrian border killed three of the group’s members and five Syrian opposition fighters.

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

Meanwhile, Hadi al-Abdallah of the Syrian Revolution General Commission told Reuters news agency that fighting broke out on Saturday after Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, who are in control of eight Syrian border villages, tried to expand their sphere by moving into three adjacent Sunni villages that were in the hands of the rebel Syrian Free Army.

“The Hezbollah force moved on foot and was supported by multiple rocket launchers. The Free Syrian Army had to call in two tanks that had been captured from the Assad army to repel the attack,” Abdallah said.

Shiite Muslim Hezbollah fighters based in the Bekaa Valley on the other side of the border, which is not demarcated, moved into the area last year. Four of the villages they had captured are inhabited by co-religionists while the other four villages are mixed with Sunni Muslim and Shiite residents.

Hezbullah has weapons stored in Syria. Aside from the weapons that Bashar al-Assad has attempted to gift to them, these weapons 'belong' to Hezbullah.  Forget for a minute Hezbullah's close ties to Syria (and Iran), there is little chance that Hezbullah is going to roll over and play dead here.

Pass the popcorn. This should be fun to watch.

Labels: Free Syrian Army, Hezbullah, Lebanon, Syria

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:50 PM