Sheikh Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary-general of Hizbollah, gives a rare interview to the FT, here"Hizbollah has been providing the Palestinians in Gaza with “every type of support” possible for some time, the deputy leader of the powerful Lebanese Shia movement has said, in a remarkable admission of a widening regional role. Sheikh Naim Qassem’s frank comments to the Financial Times are the first clear confirmation of Hizbollah’s broad assistance to the Palestinian Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
The comments are likely to alarm Israel, which fought an unsuccessful war against Hizbollah in 2006. The statements will also worry the new US administration as it steps up its engagement in the Middle East. Hizbollah and its allies stand a good chance of winning the June 7 parliamentary elections in Lebanon.
“We have always said that we supported the resistance in Palestine but we have not mentioned how or given details of such support,” Sheikh Qassem said, in a rare interview at a secret location in southern Beirut. “But Egypt has now revealed that we have given military support to Palestine. We have done so for a while but we have not talked about it.”...
Sheikh Qassem left no doubt that Hizbollah, which proved itself surprisingly strong militarily during a 34-day war with Israel in 2006, was now acting regionally to oppose the Jewish state. “It is one of the secrets of the resistance that we don’t talk about the details of our support, but suffice to say that we are giving them every type of support that could help the Palestinian resistance. Every type that is possible,” he said. Pressed on whether Hizbollah was supplying arms or training, the sheikh said: “We leave this to be seen in time to come.”......"
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