Assad’s fall will cut off Iran, Hezbollah link

DHAKA: The downfall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria is expected to inflict a deadly blow to the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis.

The Shia group Hezbollah in Lebanon will have much more difficulty obtaining Iranian military and financial support, while Iran will be disconnected from a valuable ally in Lebanon.

‘The Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis believes that the fall of one means the fall of the others. Therefore, they will defend each other until the end. Iranian influence in Lebanon will decrease after the fall of the Assad regime,’ Ali al-Amin, a well-known Lebanese Shia figure and editor-in-chief of the highest circulating daily newspaper in Lebanon, Al-Balad, argued in remarks to Turkish daily Sunday’s Zaman.

Experts agree that if the Syrian regime falls, Hezbollah’s political and financial support lines could be seriously hurt, which is a life and death situation for Hezbollah.

Agreeing with al-Amin, Ali Hussein Bakeer, Lebanese expert for the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (USAK), told Sunday’s Zaman that military and financial support for Hezbollah would stop with the fall of the Assad regime.

‘The political scene in Lebanon is currently witnessing tensions. Allies of the Syrian regime, including Hezbollah and Iran, are getting more nervous as Assad gets weaker by the day.’

‘The fall of the Assad regime will have implications for its allies in Lebanon, too,’ said Bakeer.

Hezbollah and Iran have so far strongly supported the Assad regime politically.

BDST: 1730 HRS, JUL 29, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor