Naharnet

Report: Hizbullah to Retaliate from Homs to Any Strike Against Syria

Hizbullah will retaliate to any strike against Damascus by firing rockets at Israel from Syrian territory, in an attempt to dissociate Lebanon from the developments in the neighboring country.

“Hizbullah is controlling 8,000 kilometers in Reef Homs and will not hesitate to participate in an attack by firing surface-to-surface missiles from Syria,” a source in the joint operations formed by Hizbullah and the forces of President Bashar Assad said in comments published in Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper.

The source said the Hizbullah is seeking not to involve Lebanon with any “military initiative” it decided to take.

“The party will not use its tactic and strategical rocket launchers inside Lebanon,” according to the source.

It added that Hizbullah will use its rocket launchers in Lebanon to retaliate to any Israeli aggression against Lebanon, which will be “permissible.”

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday asked Congress to authorize military action against Syria.

The move lifted the threat of immediate strikes on Assad's regime. But the fears that the attack would trigger a wider war through a Hizbullah attack on Israel remain.

Syria is intertwined in alliances with Iran, Hizbullah and Palestinian militant groups. The country also borders its longtime foe and U.S. ally Israel, making the fallout from military action unpredictable.

The Israeli cabinet authorized last week a partial call-up of army reservists amid growing expectations of a foreign military strike on neighboring Syria, army radio reported.

The unspecified number of troops are attached to units stationed in the north of the country, which borders both Lebanon and the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, it said.


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