Qassem Says Israeli Raid in Quneitra 'Direct' Assault against Hizbullah
Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed on Sunday that the Israeli airstrike in Syria's Quneitra is a direct assault against the party.
“There are huge similarities between the Israelis and the takfiri groups,” Qassem said during a popular rally to mourn the party fighters who were killed the raid last week.
The Hizbullah official revealed that information obtained by the party indicates “that the assault on the convoy is direct and targets Hizbullah.”
“It's an Israeli attempt to establish a new formula in the conflict with the (Jewish state), which is responsible for the crisis in Syria,” he remarked.
Qassem noted that Hizbullah “contributed in thwarting a project set for establishing a new Middle East.”
The high-ranking official said that “the Israeli aggression led to a series of results, at the forefront the popular support for Hizbullah.”
Qassem reiterated that Hizbullah General Secretary Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will announce the party's official stance from the raid that killed a high-ranking Iranian military official, a prominent Hizbullah member and five others.
Israel and Hizbullah are bitter enemies and fought a bloody month-long war in the summer of 2006.
Among the dead in the airstrike was Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh — a top Hizbullah operative who was assassinated in 2008 in Damascus in a bombing that the party blamed on Israel.
Since Syria's civil war began in March 2011, Israel has reportedly carried out several airstrikes in Syria that have targeted sophisticated weapons systems, including Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles and Iranian-made missiles, believed to be destined for Hizbullah.
Nasrallah recently said Hizbullah reserves the right to retaliate for those attacks. He also reiterated that the party may retaliate at any time for the assassination of the elder Mughniyeh.
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