(Hizb’Allah fighters in Damascus)
This week, al-Nusra Front admitted what many of us have been pointing out for the last year. They are the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. This announcement proves critics of Syrian intervention correct. But it is obvious why they are now admitting this. Al-Qaeda and their Muslim Brotherhood allies, Free Syrian Army, have the upper hand against Assad’s forces.
The recent losses by Assad’s forces has prompted Hizb’Allah to send more of their fighters into Lebanon. This move indicates the extent to Ophiuchus Assad’s forces are stretched.
Over 1,000 members of the Lebanese Shitte militant group, Hezbollah, entered Syria in the past few days via waterways in the Mediterranean Sea, Saudi daily al-Watan reported on Sunday.
According to the report, around 1,200 fighters arrived to Syria’s Tartus port in order to fight alongside regime troops.
The armed members who arrived from Lebanon to Syria committed “a hideous crime” in the town of Talkalkh, the daily said, adding that tens of thousands of fighters entered from Iraq to aid the Syrian regime.
[….]
The daily quoted sources as saying that the Damascus regime “is resorting to the aid of fighters from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which implies that the Syrian recruits’ desire to fight alongside the regime is decreasing.”
The source added that reservists are also not complying with the army command’s repeated calls to join the regime troops in their fighting.
The regime has also been arresting men in their forties and forcing them to join recruitment camps so they join the fighting between regime troops and the rebels, the daily added.
On Saturday, it was reported that at least forty Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers were killed in recent clashes with opposition fighters in the strategic town of al-Qusayr in Homs province, activists said, according to Al Arabiya.
In clashes with Syrian troops in Qusayr, the opposition fighters described on Friday what they called the “biggest intervention” by Lebanese militant movement, Hezbollah, in the two-year conflict that started as protests against President Bashar al-Assad but morphed into a civil war.
Assad, Hizb’Allah and Iran underestimated al-Qaeda. Keep in mind that Damascus was the capital of the Arab Caliphate when Syria was seized from the Eastern Romans in the 630’s. They are highly motivated and thanks to years fighting us, they are better fighters than Hizb’Allah, the Syrian Army or Iran’s al-Quds force.
In a propaganda coup for al-Qaeda and its allies, they have allowed an Iranian prisoner to be interviewed by Al Arabiya.
A man, who is reportedly an Iranian officer in the custody of the rebel Free Syrian Army, spoke to Al Arabiya Thursday and said he used to train snipers for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He said that he used to train the men in the western province of Idlib, in which – he added – he stayed for months.
“My name is Hamid Wothouq, amd I’m from Shiraz city. I stayed in al-Fouaa and Kafriya for five month to work with snipers. In Iran, I worked for the Basij [Iranian paramilitary organization]. I want help from the Islamic republic,” he told Al Arabiya’s cameras.
Here are al-Qaeda fighters firing on Hizb’Allah positions.
Here are Chechen al-Qaeda Fighters in Syria.
It saddens me that very few Conservative blogs are reporting the truth about the Syrian conflict. They have an Omerta on al-Qaeda’s role in the conflict. Those outlets continue to lie to their readers that these are people fighting for Democracy. They are pushing the propaganda from the GOP’s Pro-Islamist foreign policy establishment.
It is not in America’s interest to intervene in the Syrian conflict. This is a pissing match between the Muslim Brotherhood/al-Qaeda and Iran. Let them continue to kill each other.
Update: Lebanese Salafist leader Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir holds a rally condemning Hizb’Allah involvement in Syria.
The National News Agency reported that supporters of the controversial Sunni cleric gathered at the roundabout near the Bahaa al-Din Hariri Mosque amid a heavy presence of army units and security forces.
The protesters blocked Sidon’s eastern highway, leading to heavy traffic.
Assir called on his followers to protest at the roundabout following the night prayers and to hold another rally next Friday in front of Sidon’s Az-Zahraa Islamic Center.
During the Sunday protest, the Sheikh of the Bilal Bin Rabbah Mosque slammed Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah’s chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The Sunni Sheikh also urged the army to “not facilitate the passage of Hezbollah fighters into Syrian territory.”
Tags: al Nusra Front, Arab Spring, Syrian War
