Hezbollah leader hopes new Syria rulers don’t recognize Israel

This picture shows the destruction in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on December 13, 2024, after Israel withdrew from the area as Lebanon’s army deployed under a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah. Agence France-Presse

BEIRUT — Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Saturday that Syria’s new rulers, who ousted the Lebanese armed group’s ally Bashar al-Assad, should not establish ties with neighboring Israel.

“We hope that this new party in power will see Israel as an enemy and not normalise relations with it,” Qassem said in a televised speech, his first public remarks since Islamist-led rebels toppled Assad, who had Hezbollah’s military support during the civil war that began after a 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests.

The rebel forces launched their offensive on November 27, the same day that a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. On Sunday, they declared Damascus had fallen, with Assad having fled the country.

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Iran-backed Hezbollah has suffered major blows during more than a year of cross-border fighting with Israel, which the Lebanese group had initiated over the Gaza war.

In late September, the clashes rapidly escalated into full-blown war.

In his speech on Saturday, Qassem maintained that the ceasefire agreement does not mean Hezbollah is required to lay down its weapons.

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The deal stipulates that over a period of 60 days, the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers would deploy in southern Lebanon, while Israeli military forces as well as Hezbollah militants withdraw from the border area — Hezbollah to the north, and Israeli troops back to their country.

Hezbollah was the only Lebanese armed group that refused to surrender its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, vowing to keep fighting Israel.