Hezbollah backs Syria truce deal

Hezbollah has announced its support for a US-Russia truce deal for Syria, where the Lebanese Shiite movement has intervened militarily on behalf of President Bashar Assad.

In a statement published late Saturday on its official media arm Al-Manar, the group’s unnamed “field commander for Syria operations” said Hezbollah “stands with the ceasefire.”

“Syria’s allies are completely committed to what the Syrian leadership, government, and security and political forces have decided in terms of the ceasefire,” the statement said.

But it pledged to pursue an “open, relentless war against the terrorists” of the Islamic State group and Al-Nusra Front, which changed its name to Fateh al-Sham Front after renouncing its ties to Al-Qaeda.

Hezbollah has dispatched between 5,000 to 8,000 fighters to bolster the beleaguered Syrian army.

The group receives military and financial support from Iran, which threw its weight behind the truce deal on Sunday.

“Iran welcomes any establishment of a ceasefire in Syria and facilitating of access of all people of this country to humanitarian aid,” said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

The new ceasefire, agreed as part of a landmark deal brokered by Russia and the US, is set to begin on Monday at sundown.

If the truce holds for one week, the US and Russia could start joint operations against jihadists from the Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham Front.

— AFP