The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA)’s leader Gen. Selim Idriss has confirmed that his fighters are prepared to not only continue the ongoing civil war in Syria, but to invade neighboring Lebanon outright to fight Hezbollah in that country.
Gen. Idriss blamed Hezbollah for the rebels’ loss of the town of Qusayr, along the Lebanon border. He insisted that this amounted to a Lebanese invasion, and vowed that the rebels would eventually win the war in both countries so long as foreign nations continues to give him equipment and funding.
Since the battle of Qusayr, Syrian rebels have attacked Lebanese towns, targeting Shi’ite neighborhoods and ambushing Lebanese soldiers near the border. Hezbollah also killed at least 12 rebels in a fight in eastern Lebanon over the weekend.
FSA threats to attack Lebanon are nothing new, but at this point it is safe to say that the coastal nation has been brought into the Syrian war, with sectarian clashes spilling over in the north and Syrian rebel fighters infiltrating in the east. This adds to the growing fear that Syria’s war is destined to go regional, with every neighbor Syria has potentially feeling the spillover from the fighting.
