The Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said today that Israel is attacking "everything related to missile manufacture" in Syria, and it is the first time that Nasrallah has revealed the nature of what Tel Aviv is bombing in the Syrian territories, and Nasrallah stressed that his party will not withdraw from Syria. Under the impact of Israeli air strikes.
The Hezbollah leader said in a televised speech that the Israelis see "the manufacture of rockets as a strength for Syria, and a strength for the axis of resistance, without a doubt."
It is the first time that an organization allied to the Syrian regime and Iran has recognized that Israel is targeting missile manufacturing sites in Syrian territory.
At least six strikes were attributed to Israel in the last three weeks in Syria, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that some missile strikes killed Iranian fighters and their loyalists, and the observatory indicated that it had targeted Iranian forces ’sites and groups loyal to them and arms depots.
Israeli officials have recently reiterated that their government will continue to respond to what it describes as Iran's attempts to establish a military presence in Syria and to send advanced weapons to the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said last week that Tel Aviv would continue its operations in Syria until the departure of Iranian forces from it.
| The effects of a missile in the sky of Damascus during the defense systems' response to the Israeli bombing last November (European) |
, Hassan Nasrallah said in his speech today that his party will not withdraw from Syria as a result of the Israeli strikes, considering that Tel Aviv is fighting a "fake battle" in Syria under the pretext of preventing the Iranian military presence.
Nasrallah added, "There are only a number of Iranian military advisers and experts" in Syria, adding that their number "increases or decreases according to the needs of the field."
He explained that the Iranian military advisers play several roles, chief among them is "providing advice and assistance to the Syrian forces, and managing groups of the Syrian, Arab and Islamic resistance forces, who are training, equipping and managing them in the existing battles", as well as "coordination with the resistance movements, including Hezbollah."
Russia and Iran
On the other hand, Nasrallah denied that there is any competition for influence in Syria between the two allies, Iran and Russia, and said that Iran "is not waging a battle of influence with anyone, not with Russia, in isolation from what Russia is waging, or with only Russia."
Analysts and media reports talk from time to time about a power struggle between Moscow and Tehran, and a race to obtain investment contracts in several areas, especially reconstruction in a country devastated by nine years of war.