MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-NASRALLAH Lebanon's Hezbollah says Assad regains momentum after setbacks

Record ID: 147671

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-NASRALLAH Lebanon's Hezbollah says Assad regains momentum after setbacks
  • Date: 10th July 2015
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (JULY 10, 2015) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS GATHERING AND WAVING FLAGS BOY WAVING HEZBOLLAH FLAG AND HOLDING POSTER SHOWING GROUP'S LEADER SAYYED HASSAN NASRALLAH VARIOUS OF SIGN READING (Arabic): "We are keeping the promise, International Quds Day" VARIOUS OF HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS STANDING AND WAVING LEBANESE, PALESTINIAN AND THE GROUP'S
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA47U1GY3UU50EG3MUKY057TCRB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    The leader of Lebanese militia group Hezbollah said on Friday (July 10) that the Syrian army's resistance to recent large-scale rebel attacks had disproved predictions that President Bashar al-Assad's days were numbered.
    In a speech to mark the annual pro-Palestinian "International Quds Day", Lebanese Shi'ite leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the army had taken the initiative since losing most of Idlib province to an Islamist alliance including al Qaeda's Nusra Front.
    Hezbollah is allied with the army and fights alongside it in Syria.
    "When Idlib fell, some said that Syria was finished and they began counting days," Nasrallah told supporters in a speech.
    The momentum that had swept Islamic State and more moderate rebel groups to a series of swift victories over the army appears to have slowed in two major attacks aimed at capturing the cities of Aleppo in the north and Deraa in the south.
    The rebel offensives have so far failed to make much headway in the face of stiff resistance by the army, which has used its superior air power to pound their positions.
    The army is also closing in on Islamic State militants in control of ancient Palmyra in central Syria, with troops seeking to recapture the city of Roman ruins currently around about 10 km (six miles) away.
    Iranian-backed Nasrallah said the army had taken back the initiative across most frontlines, including the border city of Zabadani, near the Beirut-Damascus highway, where it and Hezbollah are fighting three years of rebel control.
    "From what happened in the last few weeks it is clear that the scene has changed. The steadfastness of the Syrian army in facing the great campaign in Deraa, Sweida, Hasaka, Aleppo and Sahl al-Ghab, and now they are beginning to regain the lead in Zabadani, Tadmur and the surrounding regions," Nasrallah told supporters.
    "For those who want to bring down the Syrian army, I say you are not able to do so, and you will have to undergo a long war that will not take you to your goal," he added.
    Separately, a mortar round fired by Islamic State militants caused a major fire at a Syrian government building in the northeastern city of Hasaka, which firefighters put out, state television reported on Friday.
    Earlier, a Syrian army source said the militants had blown up a third explosive-laden car in the eastern part of the city. The source said there were casualties but gave no further details.
    The hardline militant group continues to stage lightning attacks inside the city after being driven out of some districts following a failed offensive last month to capture Hasaka, capital of Syria's main oil- and grain-producing province.
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