BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said that the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad is no longer in danger of falling.
Hassan Nasrallah said in interview with Lebanon's daily As-Safir newspaper that the danger of the Syrian government's "fall has ended." Excerpts of the interview were published Sunday by Lebanon's official National News Agency. The full interview will appear in the newspaper's Monday edition.
Hezbollah militants have been fighting alongside Syrian government troops against the rebels trying to oust Assad from power. The Shiite group's fighters were instrumental in helping Assad's forces dislodge opposition fighters from their strongholds along the Lebanon-Syria border.
However, Hezbollah's public role in the 3-year-old conflict has inflamed sectarian tensions in Lebanon. The country's Sunni Muslims support the Syrian rebels.
