Zohbi Denies Hizbullah Involved in Regime Battles

The Syrian regime denied on Monday that Hizbullah fighters are intervening in the battles in the Syria against rebels.

"One thing needs to be made absolutely clear, there is not a single Hizbullah fighter in Syria," Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi told Iranian Arabic-language television channel Al-Alam.

He described it as “pure deception,” saying that “the Syrian army has absolutely no need of such help.”

The official insisted that the Syrian army doesn't need neither “fighters nor weapons.”

The rebels "want to justify the intervention of terrorist fighters coming to Syria from several countries", Zohbi said, referring to the influx of foreign fighters who have joined the insurgency.

Syria's opposition has accused Hizbullah of firing at rebel positions inside the strife-torn country from across the Lebanese border.

Lebanese parties are sharply divided over the crisis in Syria as the March 8 alliance continuously expresses its support to Assad, while the March 14 camp voices its support for the popular revolt.

The international community and analysts have expressed fears that the conflict in Syria may spill over into the Lebanon.

Zohbi denied allegations that members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards were fighting alongside the Syrian army against rebels.

"There isn't a single Iranian -- Revolutionary Guard or otherwise -- on the battlefield, or intervening directly in the Syrian army's mission," Zohbi said.

Any suggestion that Iranians have joined the battle against the insurgency is "an attempt to undermine the Syrian state and Iran", he said, adding that it is "difficult to sabotage ... historic" relations between Damascus and its key regional ally Tehran.

In a separate interview, Zohbi denied firing Scud missiles at armed rebels, including in Aleppo where a watchdog says 58 people were killed when missiles hit the northern city.

The regime "denies the use by Syrian forces of Scud missiles in battles against the armed opposition," Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said in an interview with Arabic-language Russia Today.

Syria's opposition and activists have accused the regime army of firing three powerful missiles at Aleppo city from military base 155 near Damascus on Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 58 people, among them 36 children, were killed when the surface-to-surface missiles struck the Tariq al-Bab district in eastern Aleppo city.

The strikes triggered severe condemnation from Washington which described the incident as "the latest demonstrations of the Syrian regime's ruthlessness and its lack of compassion for the Syrian people it claims to represent".