Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Hezbollah to stay in Syria 'until further notice', leader says


by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, France24, Beirut


    © AL-MANAR TV/AFP | An image grab taken from Hezbollah's al-Manar TV shows Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Lebanese Shiite movement, giving a televised address on September 19, 2018

    BEIRUT - 
    Hezbollah will stay in Syria "until further notice", the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday in a televised address.
    "We will remain there even after the Idlib accord," Nasrallah said, referring to a Russia-Turkey deal to prevent a Syrian regime offensive on the country's last rebel-held stronghold.
    "We will stay until further notice," he stressed, speaking on the eve of the Shiite commemoration of Ashura.
    "Our presence there is tied to necessity and to the consent of the Syrian leadership," said Nasrallah, whose Hezbollah movement is backing the Damascus regime in the ongoing conflict.
    Hezbollah officially entered the Syrian war in 2013 on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, who is also backed by Iran and Russia.
    Moscow's military intervention in 2015 marked a turning point in the conflict and enabled Assad to secure a series of victories against rebels and jihadists.
    The regime now controls nearly two-thirds of the country and Nasrallah said such a change in fortunes would inevitably affect operations.
    "Naturally, the calm of the front lines, and the decline in threats will have an impact on the numbers present," he said.
    Hezbollah has battled against Islamic State group jihadists as well as rebel groups in Syria.
    Some 1,665 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
    Moscow and Ankara -- which supports some rebel groups -- agreed on Monday to create a demilitarised buffer zone in Idlib, averting a regime assault on the province.
    "With the Idlib accord, if everything is done correctly, we can suppose that Syria will head towards a great calm, and in concrete terms there will no longer be front lines," said Nasrallah.

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    Monday, November 20, 2017

    Hezbollah says ready to pull forces from Iraq after IS defeat


    by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, France24, Beirut. Disclosure: Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla had a romantic relationship when she was based in Jerusalem.


      © AL-MANAR TV/AFP | An image grab taken from Hezbollah TV on November 20, 2017 shows Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese Shiite movement, giving a televised address from an undisclosed location in Lebanon

      BEIRUT - 
      Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Monday he was prepared to pull his forces from Iraq, after the Islamic State group lost control over its last urban stronghold in the country.
      In a televised address on Monday evening, Nasrallah said the Lebanese movement had deployed "large numbers of our commanders and cadres" to Iraq to fight IS.
      "We consider that the mission has been accomplished, but we are waiting for the final, Iraqi announcement of victory," he said.
      Once that official declaration came, Hezbollah would reassess its presence in Iraq and may pull its members out.
      "If we find that it's over, that there is no need for the presence of these brothers, they will return to be deployed in any other arena that needs them," Nasrallah said.
      Hezbollah mostly deployed experienced commanders as advisers and trainers to work alongside the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary umbrella dominated by local Shiite militia groups also loyal to Tehran.
      Iraqi forces on November 17 announced they had retaken Rawa, the last town to have been held by the Islamic State group in Iraq, capping three years of anti-jihadist military operations.
      The latest efforts against IS have been spearheaded by Iraqi special forces and other regular troops but the Hashed, which counts tens of thousands of fighters, has been a key component of the bruising campaign.
      While IS no longer controls any urban hub in Iraq, its surviving fighters have regrouped in remote desert areas along the border with Syria and mopping up operations remain to be completed.


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