The nearly seven-year war in Syria will end in a year or two at most, the leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said Wednesday.
In an interview with Lebanon's pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen network, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah also said Israeli strikes on Hezbollah positions in Syria did not, and would not, prevent weapons shipments from reaching the group.
Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups have fought alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad during the conflict, which erupted in March 2011.
Addressing the wave of anti-regime protests currently engulfing Iran, Nasrallah played down the increasingly violent demonstrations, saying that U.S. President Donald Trump's "hopes" that the protests will snowball and lead to a regime change or chaos will be dashed along with the hopes of the Israelis and Saudis.
Nasrallah explained that the protests were simply an expression of economic discontent and not rooted in the kind of political issues that spurred huge numbers to demonstrate in 2009. He predicted that the latest wave of protests would end soon.
"In Iran, there is nothing to worry about and the issue is being taken seriously. … The size of the protests is not large," Nasrallah said.
"What is happening in Iran is being well contained and is not comparable to what happened in 2009. … The problem in Iran now is not political like what happened in 2009."
Nasrallah argued that the protests were sparked by the bankruptcy of some banks and companies and that the resulting discontent was then exploited by external powers. "America, Israel and Saudi Arabia have entered the crisis in Iran," he said.
