Syrian Coalition: We Have Repeatedly Warned of Consequences of Hezbollah Intervention in Syria

Nora al-Ameer, vice president of the Syrian Coalition, said that Hezbollah’s denial of any involvement in the onslaught on Arsal refugee camp in Lebanon is “as an unacceptable attempt to evade responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe that afflicts the Syrian refugees in Arsal. Hezbollah’s chief Nasrallah will not succeed in exonerating his militias from the blood of innocent civilians. It has become clear that Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria is behind the spillover of terrorism to Lebanon, even though we have repeatedly called on the Lebanese government to put pressure on Hezbollah to withdraw its criminal militias from Syria. Civilians are now paying the price of the inaction towards horrific massacres committed by sectarian militias led by Bashar al-Assad.” Al Ameer calls on the Lebanese army to “not only to fight the terrorist militias that crossed the borders into Lebanon, but to treat with the root of the problem, which is Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria. We also call on the Lebanese authorities to immediately evacuate the Syrian refugees in Arsal camps which have become rubble. The indiscrinminate shelling on the town left dozens of casualties among the Syrian refugees, so it is unacceptable to force them pay the price of the inaction of international community and Lebanese authorities in particular in stopping Hezbollah’s killing machine that has claimed the lives of thousands of Syrians. What is going in Arsal comes as a retaliation by Hezbollah’s for the series of defeats inflicted on it by the rebel fighters in the area of Qalamoun. Arsal is shelter to more than 140,000 displaced Syrians, many of them came from Qalamoun, which suggests that the terrorist groups’ infiltration of the Lebanese borders and igniting an armed confrontation with the Lebanese authorities was not spontaneous or sudden, as it not only serves the interests of Hezbollah and the Assad regime who are seeking to put pressure on the rebel fighters through targeting their families in Arsal.” Moreover, Khaled Raad, member of the Free Teachers Union and who is currently living in Arsal appeals for international community and the Friends of the Syrian people to group to “immediately intervene and evacuate civilians and the wounded from form the makeshift field hospitals that suffer from shortages of medicines and medical equipment. “Two days ago, doctors had to amputate my son’s hand my sister-in-law’s legs who were badly injured as a result of indiscriminate shelling on the town of Arsal. The checkpoints set up by the Lebanese army allowed only the local people to leave the town, leaving us trapped inside.” Commenting on the entry of food aid to civilians trapped in Arsal, Raad said that “we do not accept to be fed with one hand while bombed with the other, what we want is evacuating the civilians and the wounded, especially the kids who are dying slowly of their injuries. We are still waiting for Red Crescent and the Red Cross to evacuate the wounded, and even if they do we see this not enough. The problems will be solved when all civilians are evacuated. Keeping us trapped inside the town will not solve the root of the problem, as this makes us hostages in the hands of the armed groups entrenched inside the town.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)