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| This image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, purports to show smoke rising from buildings due to government forces shelling in Daraa, Syria, on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012. |
BEIRUT (AP)
-- A Hezbollah commander and several fighters have been killed inside
Syria, a Lebanese security official said Tuesday, a development that
could stoke already soaring tensions over the Lebanese militant group's
role in the civil war next door.
Hezbollah's
reputation has taken a beating over its support for the Syrian regime,
but any sign that the group's fighters are taking part in the battle
raises fears that the conflict could expand into a wider fight engulfing
the region.
Hezbollah has stood by Syrian
President Bashar Assad since the uprising began 18 months ago, even
after the group supported revolts in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Bahrain.
Assad's
fall would be a dire scenario for Hezbollah. Any new regime led by
Syria's majority Sunni Muslims would likely be far less friendly - or
even outright hostile - to Shiite Muslim Hezbollah. Iran remains the
group's most important patron, but Syria is a crucial supply route.
Without it, Hezbollah will struggle to get money and weapons as easily.
The
Syrian uprising has left Assad deeply isolated - making his remaining
allies such as Iran and Russia all the more important. At last week's
gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, dozens of nations
excoriated the Assad regime for its role in a conflict that activists
estimate has killed at least 30,000 Syrians.
It
was not immediately clear how the Hezbollah militants were killed or
whether they had been fighting alongside the Syrian army. But
Hezbollah's newspaper al-Intiqad said Hezbollah commander Ali Hussein
Nassif, who is also known as Abu Abbas, was killed "while performing his
jihadi duties." It did not say when or where he was killed.
A
Lebanese security official said Nassif was killed in Syria and his body
was returned to Lebanon through the Masnaa border crossing on Sunday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak
to the media, the official said the bodies of several other Hezbollah
fighters have been brought back to Lebanon in recent days.
Hezbollah
spokesman Ibrahim Moussawi on Tuesday confirmed the deaths of the
Hezbollah members but said he had no further information on where or how
Nassif was killed. He declined further comment.
The
Syrian opposition has long accused the group of helping the Syrian
leadership crack down on the uprising - a claim the group has repeatedly
denied. Hezbollah has to tread a careful path with its support for the
regime, mindful that many of its supporters in Lebanon dread getting
sucked into the conflict.
Nassif's funeral,
which was held in the eastern town of Budai, near Baalbek, was attended
by top Hezbollah officials including the head of the judicial council
and the political bureau, an indication of Nassif's high prestige.
On
Tuesday, Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV showed the funerals of at least two
other Hezbollah members it said were killed while performing their
"jihadi duty." Both funerals were attended by Hezbollah officials and
commanders.
The coffins of the dead were
draped with Hezbollah's yellow flags and carried by militants in black
uniforms and red berets. Hundreds of people marched in the funeral.
Samer
al-Homsi, an activist in Syria's central Homs province, which borders
Lebanon, said Nassif was killed Saturday when a roadside bomb went off
as the car he was in passed just outside the town of Qusair. He said
Nassif and several other people were killed in the blast.
"His job was to coordinate with Syrian security agencies," al-Homsi said via Skype.
He
added that the rebels detonated the bomb "without knowing" that the
target was a Hezbollah official. "We knew he was a Hezbollah official
after it was announced by the group in Lebanon," he said. Al-Homsi's
account could not be independently verified.
Although
Hezbollah's ties to Syria have stayed strong during the uprising, the
government's longstanding relations with the Palestinian militant group
Hamas have frayed.
Syria's state-run media
unleashed a scathing attack on the leader of Hamas, accusing him of
turning his back on Assad and describing him as ungrateful and
traitorous.
In an editorial aired Monday,
Syrian TV said Khaled Mashaal, who pulled Hamas' headquarters out of
Damascus this year, had abandoned the resistance movement against Israel
and the United States.
The comments show just
how much ties between Hamas and the Syrian regime - once staunch allies
- have disintegrated since the uprising began 18 months ago.
The
regime's verbal attack appeared to be prompted by Mashaal's decision to
take part in a major conference Sunday of Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party. Erdogan has been one of Assad's sharpest
critics.
Less than two years ago, Syria, Iran,
Hamas and Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group were part of what they
called an "axis of resistance" against Israel and the U.S. With Hamas'
departure, they lost a major Palestinian faction that rules the Gaza
Strip.
Hamas initially staked out a neutral
position toward the uprising, but as the estimated 500,000 Palestinians
living in Syria became increasingly outraged over the regime's brutal
crackdown on protesters, Hamas came under pressure for its cozy ties
with the government, prompting the group in February to shift its stance
and praise Syrians for "moving toward democracy and reform."
Since
then, most Hamas leaders have left Syria for Egypt, where their allies
in the Muslim Brotherhood have taken power in elections following the
uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Egypt's new Islamist president,
Mohammed Morsi, has been a strong critic of Assad, calling his
government an "oppressive regime."
Mashaal
himself shuttered Hamas' Damascus offices and now spends most of his
time in Qatar, the tiny Gulf country that has strongly backed the rebels
battling to overthrow Assad.
In its
editorial, Syrian state TV sought to remind Mashaal, who holds Jordanian
citizenship, of when he was expelled from Jordan in 1999 for "illicit
and harmful" activities, and how several countries refused to welcome
him after he was kicked out.
"Remember when
you were a refugee aboard planes. Damascus came and gave you mercy," the
station said.
"No one wanted to shake your hand then, as if you had
rabies."
