Hezbollah "will not leave southern Syria," said Hashim Safi Al Din, the head of the Shiite terrorist groups' executive council, the Saudi Al Arabiya news station reported Sunday.
According to reports from Lebanon and Hezbollah's own Al-Manar satellite network, al-Din confirmed that Hezbollah fighters were significantly involved in the battles in southern Syria, contradicting denials from the Damascus regime that foreign fighters were in the area.
Several weeks ago, the United Stated and Saudi Arabia placed Al-Din on their respective terrorist watchlists, due to his involvement in terrorist activity and support for the Assad regime.
Al-Din's statement was the first admission from a senior Hezbollah official about the organization's involvement in the fighting in Syria in general, and in the Daraa Province in particular, following rumors that the group had left the area of the country.
The admission is viewed as significant because the fighting in south Syria is raging near the 1974 demilitarized zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces. Al-Din's statement coincides with previous declarations by Iranian militias that they were fighting alongside Syrian regime forces in Daraa.
