Syrian opposition slams Hezbollah involvement in conflict

DAMASCUS (Xinhua) - A Syrian opposition group on Saturday condemned the involvement of the Lebanese Hezbollah group in the country's civil conflict, saying that Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's recent comments overtly defended his group's backing to the Syrian army.

In a phone interview with Xinhua, Munther Khdam, spokesman of the oppositional National Coordination Body, dismissed Nasrallah's remarks as "interference in Syria's affairs."

He said that Nasrallah's comments would further fuel sectarian tension in Syria, calling on him to withdraw his fighters from Syria.

In a televised speech marking the 13th anniversary of the Liberation and Resistance (Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon) Saturday, Nasrallah defended the regime of President Bashar al-Assad as the "backbone of the resistance ... and the resistance cannot stand if Syria is broken."

He made it clear that he will keep fighting alongside Damascus till victory.

The Hezbollah leader said fighters of his Shiite militant group are fighting in Syria against radical Islamists who "eat hearts, dig up graves, and cut off heads ... Those are destroying the past, the present and reject the dialogue and insist on fighting."

He noted that his group can't be on a side that is supported by the United States and Israel, in reference to the strong backing the opposition are getting from the US and its western allies.

Nasrallah defended his group's involvement in the fight by warning of the danger of radical Islamists, which he said, are threatening the entire region, Sunnis, Christians and Shiites alike.

He pledged that his group will not allow the radical Islamists in Syria to control areas along the Lebanese borders.

Nasrallah's comments came as Hezbollah sided with the Syrian government forces in their battle against the rebels in Syria's central city of al-Qussair.

Al-Qussair is taken as a strategic city due to its location in central Syria and its closeness to the Lebanese borders. The Syrian army pushed its way into al-Qussair early last Sunday following 46 days of battling, in efforts to cut the rebel's main supply line in the central region of the country.