Beirut: Lebanon`s Shiite movement Hezbollah will stay involved in the Syrian conflict, after having helped government forces recapture the key town of Qusayr from rebels, its leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday.
"Before Qusayr is the same as after Qusayr. Nothing has changed," he said in a televised speech.
"Isn`t the conspiracy the same?... Have the facts changed? On the contrary, the other side is stirring up this conflict even more," said the leader of the powerful Iranian-backed group.
"Where we need to be, we will be. Where we began to assume our responsibilities, we will continue to assume our responsibilities," he added.
Hezbollah, a staunch ally of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has become increasingly embroiled in the conflict in neighbouring Syria that is now in its third year.
The group has dispatched fighters to battle alongside regime troops, including most prominently in Qusayr, a former rebel stronghold in central Homs province on the border with Lebanon.
Its fighters helped the Syrian army win back control of the town earlier this month, dealing a harsh blow to the opposition.
The regime has said it plans to build on that victory by trying to retake large parts of the northern city of Aleppo and its surrounding province, but it is unclear whether Hezbollah will also join that operation.
"The details will depend on the requirements on the ground," Nasrallah said in the address, which came on the Day of the Wounded, honouring Hezbollah`s casualties in different conflicts.
AFP
