Hezbollah leader says main supply line via Syria has been cut

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants says the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria has cut a main supply line for the group but it can find other ways to bring in weapons.

Hezbollah was a main backer of Assad and sent thousands of fighters to Syria over the past decade. And for decades, Hezbollah relied on Syria as a channel for weapons from the militant group’s main backer, Iran.

In his first public comments in the week since Assad’s fall, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem in a televised speech on Saturday said Hezbollah has lost the military supply line through Syria but the new authority there might reinstate the route. Otherwise, he said, “we might find other ways.” Kassem also said Hezbollah hopes the new authority in Syria will consider Israel an enemy.