Nasrallah: Saudi to Suffer Major Defeat in Yemen, War on Syria Has Failed
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah noted Monday that Saudi Arabia will suffer a “major defeat” in the Yemeni conflict, as he stressed that “the war on Syria” has failed.
“Saudi Arabia will suffer a major defeat that will have an impact on its domestic situation and the entire region,” said Nasrallah in an interview on Syria's state-run al-Ikhbariya news channel.
He noted that the Saudi-led airstrikes have “miserably failed” to change the situation on the ground in Yemen, pointing out that the Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies are still advancing.
“The Yemenis were going to turn their country into a state qualified for being alongside the resistance movements in the region,” said Nasrallah, referring to the Huthis' lightning power grab that preceded the Saudi-led intervention.
“The Yemeni people support the Palestinian cause and they were interacting with what's going on in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.Today, there is a Saudi-American aggression against Yemen,” he added.
Saudi Arabia began its airstrikes in Yemen on March 25, announcing that it had put together a coalition of more than 10 countries, including five Gulf monarchies, for the military operation to defend Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansur Hadi's government.
The military move against the Shiite Huthi rebels triggered fury from Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, Hizbullah's main regional ally, with officials in Tehran warning that the military action threatened to spill over into other countries.
Turning to the situation in war-torn Syria, where his party has sent elite fighters to bolster the embattled regime, Nasrallah stressed that “the war on Syria has failed.”
Asked whether the conflict in Syria was a religious or political one, Hizbullah's leader -- himself a Shiite Muslim cleric – said “a lot of friendships, alliances, animosities and wars have political motives and objectives but many people take advantage of religion to justify wars.”
He also noted that the decision to enter the conflict was taken by Hizbullah's leadership, not by the party's ally Tehran.
“We chose to enter the war in Syria. We declared that, mentioned the reasons and joined with our own will,” said Nasrallah.
“In Lebanon, we didn't tell our allies in order not to embarrass anyone. After we engaged in the war, I apologized to our friends in Lebanon and told them that they were not consulted so that they don't share the consequences,” he added.
“From the very beginning, we knew that our battle in Syria will be long and tough,” he said.
Nasrallah also alleged that the popular uprising against the Syrian regime turned into an armed revolt due to a foreign scheme.
“It has been said a lot that Syria is being targeted because it is an essential component of the axis of resistance, but this is not the only reason.
“The other reason, which might be more important, is that Syria was a state with an independent decision throughout the past decades ... If we want to find an independent state in the region, Syria is one of the few independent states in the region,” he added.
Describing Syria as “an essential country in the region,” Nasrallah said one “cannot speak of the future of the region -- Turkey, Jordan and Iraq -- without Syria.”
“Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar launched ties with President Bashar Assad after the death of his father with the aim of usurping the Syrian decision,” noted Nasrallah.
Recalling the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Nasrallah said the fingers were “immediately” pointed at Syria after the assassination as part of a foreign scheme against it.
“The assassination was part of the scheme, which was continued through the 2006 war with the aim of destroying the resistance,” added Nasrallah, referring to the devastating summer war between Israel and Hizbullah.
“Assad was open to dialogue with all figures when the Syrian revolution started, but when some countries sensed Assad's openness, they launched the armed action,” Nasrallah clarified.
He underlined, however, that “the war on Syria has failed.”
“As long as the state exists, this means that the war has not succeeded or achieved its real and main objective. The main regions are still under the regime's control, such as the capital and the main cities,” Nasrallah added.
“Seizing areas such as Idlib, Raqa, Ghouta or Deir Ezzor will not achieve their objectives,” he went on to say.
As for a possible political solution for the bloody conflict, Nasrallah said that “what's needed in Syria is the resilience of the state and the army and keeping the doors open for any political dialogue that serves Syria.”
“Any chance for a dialogue with any gathering should not be missed,” he said.
Y.R.
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