Hezbollah and other major regional Shiite powers have adopted a stance that the conflict in Syria is an existential one, sources told NOW contributor Qassem Kassir.The big question for the past year has been, which would be less awful - a likely Islamist victory in Syria or Assad staying in power?
Kassir wrote Thursday that top figures in Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Amal Movement as well as Iraqi Shiite parties believe “their defense of [the Syrian regime] is no longer limited to religious reasons and Syrian towns inhabited by Shiites on the Lebanese-Syrian border, it is rather a defense of the Resistance and the region,” although they have yet to make this position public.
Sources close to Hezbollah said that “rumors about the Shiite party’s leaders being restless regarding the fighting in Syria are not true.”
“On the contrary, with the passing of time, their belief in the dangers of what is happening in Syria and the importance of defending [Syria] is increasing because the battle there is an existential and decisive one.”
At least for the foreseeable future, I think that weakening Iran and Hezbollah by defeating Assad is more important than the downside of jihadists in charge in Syria.
But it is a tough call.