Hezbollah: We’ll Leave Syria If Other Nations Stop Backing Rebels

Nasrallah Urges Other Nations to Back Settlement in Syria

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has urged other nations in the Arab world to stop backing Syria’s rebel factions and support a negotiated settlement, saying a deal could end the fighting.

“Let the Syrians reconcile. Of course if that happened we would not remain in Syria either,” Nasrallah insisted in comments today. Nasrallah went on to say his country has a major concern with Sunni Islamist factions in Syria spilling across the border.

Hezbollah is the largest foreign faction backing the Assad government on the ground, while the rebels include an overwhelming number of disparate foreign factions, including al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which dominates the north, and the Islamic Front, which is bankrolled by the GCC nations.

Nasrallah expressed concern about the spillover violence, saying that what has happened in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Somalia would inevitably spill over into Lebanon.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.