‘Hezbollah blocked normalization between Israel, al-Qaeda’

A Hezbollah lawmaker said Tuesday that the terror organization was acting to prevent the normalization of ties between Israel and rebel groups, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.

Walid Sukkarieh, a member of the Lebanese parliament, said Hezbollah and Iran, along with Syrian forces, formed an “axis of resistance” against Israel in the Golan Heights. His remarks came two days after an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Syrian Golan Heights killed six Hezbollah members and six Iranian commanders.

“Israel is attempting to normalize relations with the opposition groups in the [Golan Heights] area, and especially with the Nusra Front,” Sukkarieh told Lebanese media, according to the Daily Star newspaper.

“This would affect Syria because a part of its society would become allied to Israel,” he added.

Sukkarieh also defended the presence of Hezbollah on the Golan Heights, but did not explicitly confirm it. Last week, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah told Iranian media that Hezbollah was not operating in the Golan Heights.

“Syria sent resistance groups to the Golan Heights more than one year ago,” Sukkarieh said. “If Hezbollah is [operating] in the area, then I think its role is about organizing the resistance against Israel and prevent normalizing relations with it.”

Sukkarieh said that the latest airstrike did not necessitate immediate retaliation, but rather was part of an ongoing conflict with Israel.

“Iran, Syria and Hezbollah are working on establishing a resistant society in the Golan, and this is a great responsibility for the axis of resistance,” he said.

The airstrike on Sunday killed six Iranian nationals, including a general, and six Hezbollah members, including the son of the group’s late military commander Imad Mughniyeh. Israel has not taken credit for the hit, but on Sunday Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Hezbollah ought to explain what it was doing in the Golan Heights.

Although there was no official confirmation that Israel was behind the attack, an unnamed Israeli security source told AFP that an Israeli helicopter had conducted a strike against “terrorists” near Quneitra, on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.