John Rossomando
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4096/syrian-rebels-target-hizballah
A string of bombings, rocket attacks and assassination attempts has brought the Syrian civil war into Hizballah's Lebanese stronghold.
Hizballah has found itself unable to keep Syria's rebel factions from
attacking its assets deep inside Lebanon. The group became subject to
reprisals ever since it began fighting alongside forces loyal to Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad earlier this year.
The terror group's activities helped turn the tide in al-Assad's
favor and was instrumental in helping government troops seize the
strategic town of Qusayr last month.
Syrian rebels hit the terror group earlier this month in its bastion
of Dahiyeh, a suburb located south of Beirut, injuring more than 50
people.
Amin Hoteit, a former Lebanese army officer close to Hizballah told
the BBC that the attack revealed the weakness of the Syrian rebels and
their inability to win on the battlefield.
Hizballah convoys on their way to Syria have occasionally been hit by roadside bombs, including one last week
"These attacks will not inflict a lot of harm on Hizballah but they
will keep it on its toes," Hoteit said. "These tactics aim to disperse
Hizballah's capacities and to force it to stay on high alert, therefore,
to exhaust its forces and distract it from achieving other plans."
In addition to being militarily involved in Syria, Hizballah faces
deep sectarian divides within Lebanon. Rebel groups threaten to bring
the war into Lebanon, which suffered its own brutal civil war between
1975 and 1990.
"Hizballah brought it on itself," Wehbe Qaticha, a military expert
close to the opposition March 14 coalition, told the BBC. "Hizballah's
intervention in Syria is an Iranian decision to comment on the issue."
The rebel Free Syrian Army initially threatened to target Hizballah in Lebanon
back in February, before the Shiite terrorist group admitted that it
was fighting alongside the Assad forces. A related group, the Syrian
National Council, issued a statement Tuesday calling for Hizballah's leaders to be put on trial for crimes it may have committed in Syria.
Hizballah's involvement in Syria was among the reasons that the European Union decided to blacklist the group this week.
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