“Yes, Hezbollah has lost the military supply route through Syria at this stage, but this loss is a detail in the resistance’s work,” Qassem said.
Syria provided a land route for Hezbollah’s patron, Iran, to send convoys of weapons to Lebanon.
Hezbollah started intervening in Syria in 2013 to help Assad quash the rebels seeking to topple him at that time.
The Hezbollah chief also said Syria’s new rulers should not recognize neighboring Israel or establish ties with it.
On the Israeli side, nearly 3,000 homes and buildings in Israel were damaged by Hezbollah attacks, according to an Army Radio report last month, citing official figures.
With Bashar al-Assad’s regime overthrown by a massive rebel offensive almost a week ago, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem admitted on Saturday that the Lebanese terror group had lost its path for supplying weapons through Syria.
While Qassem did not specifically name Assad in his televised speech, he stated that the group “cannot judge these new forces until they stabilize” and “take clear positions.” He also expressed his hope that the governments and people of Syria and Lebanon could continue to work together.
“Yes, at this point, Hezbollah no longer has a military supply route through Syria, but this is just a detail in the resistance’s work,” Qassem stated.
“We might search for alternative routes if a new regime takes power and things return to normal,” he continued.
Hezbollah’s backer, Iran, was able to send arms convoys to Lebanon via Syria. Israeli airstrikes frequently targeted such convoys, but the terror group was still able to arm itself extensively.
In 2013, Hezbollah began its intervention in Syria to assist Assad in defeating the rebels who were attempting to overthrow him. The organization dispatched supervising officers to supervise a fighter withdrawal from Damascus last week as rebels drew closer.
The rebel offensive was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, which now has a transitional caretaker government in place, replacing more than 50 years of Assad family rule.
The head of Hezbollah added that Syria’s new leaders shouldn’t recognize or build relations with Israel, their neighbor.
Qassem stated, “We hope that this new party in power will view Israel as an enemy and refrain from normalizing relations with it.”.
Israeli airstrikes in Syria have “no more excuses,” according to Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, also known by his alias Abu Mohammed al-Julani. He also claimed that recent IDF attacks on Syrian territory have crossed red lines and pose a threat to regional escalation.
But he said his group didn’t look for more conflict in the area.
The day after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, Hezbollah launched cross-border attacks on Israel from Lebanon, dislodging about 60,000 Israelis from their homes in the country’s north by using drones and rockets to target border communities and military installations. As Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah and eventually launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes in Beirut in late September 2024 killed Hassan Nasrallah, Qassem’s predecessor.
The parties agreed to a ceasefire in late November, and it has largely held despite Israel’s occasional airstrikes against Hezbollah members in response to alleged truce violations.
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have targeted more than 12,500 Hezbollah targets, including 1,600 command centers and 1,000 weapons depots, according to IDF data.
According to people close to Hezbollah, the terror organization estimates that Israel has killed up to 4,000 of its fighters in the past year, the great majority of whom were killed during the last two months of heightened fighting. The sources referenced internal estimates that were not previously publicized.
The IDF is believed to have destroyed about 80% of Hezbollah’s military capabilities in addition to killing the majority of its other top leaders, including Nasrallah.
Since October 2023, Hezbollah has attacked Israel, killing forty-five civilians. Furthermore, 80 IDF soldiers and reservists have lost their lives in attacks on Israel, cross-border skirmishes, and the subsequent ground operation that was started in southern Lebanon in late September.
According to an Army Radio report last month, which cited official figures, Hezbollah attacks in Israel caused damage to almost 3,000 homes and buildings.
