Nasrallah Says Saudis Have Urged Syria to Cut Ties with Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Riyadh has recently proposed ending support for terrorists in Syria provided that Damascus sever ties with Tehran and the resistance movement.
Lebanese daily Al Akhbar on Tuesday quoted Nasrallah as saying that a senior Saudi delegation recently met with Syrian officials.
The Saudi side urged Syria to sever its relations with Iran and the resistance movement and offered, in exchange, to cut support for terrorist groups in Syria and provide the Damascus government with hundreds of billions of dollars in aid for reconstruction of the country, the Hezbollah chief said.
He added that a similar offer had been made by Riyadh when King Abdullah, King Salman’s predecessor, was in power.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, backed by countries like Saudi Arabia, currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
In the meantime, Iran has remained a close ally of Syria and supports its legitimate government in the face of foreign-backed militancy.
The Hezbollah Resistance Movement has also been aiding the Damascus government in the battle against terrorist groups since the outbreak of the civil war and has played an active role in providing security along the Syria-Lebanon common border.
