The leader of the Lebanese, Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, Naim Qassem, admitted on Saturday that his group had lost a supply route after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s allied regime in neighboring Syria.
“Hezbollah has lost the military supply route through Syria. This is a small detail. The resistance is flexible and what is important is its continuity,” Qassem said in a televised speech.
Last week, Islamist rebels in Syria advanced on the capital Damascus and forced al-Assad, who had been in power for more than twenty years, to flee the country.
The rebels’ capture of Damascus came after major territorial gains were made during a lightning offensive in the war-torn country.
Al-Assad’s ouster has dealt a blow to the so-called ‘axis of resistance’ made up of Iran’s allies.
In addition to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the anti-Israel alliance also includes militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen.
Qassem said his group will not condemn the rebels now in power in Syria until they take clear positions and the situation in Syria stabilizes.
“We hope that the new rule in Syria will regard Israel as an enemy and not normalize ties with it,” he added.
Last month, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire after difficult negotiations to end more than a year of cross-border conflict.
