Hezbollah members parade with a mock missile launcher in the Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh. IMAGE: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP
Former members of US-backed militant groups are joining untits of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement operating in Syria, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on November 1.
According to the report, some 2,000 fighters had already joined the Iranian-allied movement in Syria and had eve n started receiving salaries ($250 monthly). A former militant commander told the WSJ that they had lost US support and had been told not to expect support from the US should they choose to battle against the Syrina government.
“Go to Russia, go to the regime, go to Iran—that was the message,” the militant commander namedRayman reportedly told the WSJ, after commanders in the south received whatsapp messages from the US embassy in the Jordanian capital not to go into battle against government forces with “the assumption or expectation of military intervention by us.”
According to Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Sean Robertson, the US is “aware of regime and allied forces recruiting former opposition members in the wake of reconciliation agreements in Southern Syria”.
Both the US and Israel are actively opposing the growth of Hezbollah and Iranian influence in the Middle East, especially in Syria. However, their involvement in the war-torn country on the side of al-Qaeda-linked militant groups (since the very start of the war) have in-fact led to the start of the Russian military operation in Syria and the growth of Iranian and Hezbollah influence because the Russian-Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah alliance has appeared to be the winning side.
