Lebanon’s Hezbollah sees events in Syria as a “big, dangerous and new transformation,” a senior Hezbollah politician said Monday, the first reaction from the Iran-backed group to the ouster of its ally Bashar al-Assad.
Hezbollah played a major role in supporting Assad during the Syrian war, before returning its fighters to Lebanon last year to fight in the war with Israel, a regrouping that weakened the Syrian government’s lines.
With his fall, Hezbollah has been left without a vital ally along Lebanon’s eastern border. Assad-ruled Syria has long served as a conduit for Iran to supply weapons to the Shiite Islamist Hezbollah.
“What is happening in Syria is a big, dangerous and new transformation, and how and why it happened requires assessment,” said Hezbollah spokesman Hassan Fadlallah.
Syrian armed groups led by the Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham entered Damascus on Sunday, capturing the capital and forcing Assad to flee to Russia.
Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows during more than a year of hostilities, which began when the Lebanese group opened fire on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza.
A ceasefire in Lebanon came into effect on November 27.
