Syria threatened to fight in Lebanon war: Hezbollah

Dubai, July 24: Syria warned Israel it would send troops into Lebanon during the Jewish state's 2006 war against Hezbollah militants if its forces advanced into a Lebanese region adjacent to Damascus, the head of the guerrillas said.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah told Al Jazeera television that Syria, which along with Iran backs the Shi'ite guerrilla group, threatened to send troops ''even into Lebanese territory to tackle Israeli forces''.

''Syria informed the enemy's government through mediators that should any ground troops advance into Arqoub ... Syria would not stand to watch and would engage,'' Nasrallah said in an interview aired today.

The war erupted after Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, 2006. About 1,200 Lebanese and 157 Israelis were killed in a 34-day conflict.

Nasrallah did not elucidate on the source of the information. But he said Damascus did not discuss any such plans with his group during the war and Israel appeared to have heeded the warning.

''The Israelis took this message seriously ... No ground advance took place in that (area) and not a single Israeli soldier advanced there,'' Nasrallah said.

He added that Hezbollah did not ask Syria or any other country to enter the war on its side: ''This was not an intention or a wish on our part and we did not see any interest in that.'' Peace talks between Syria and Israel collapsed in 2000 over Damascus's demand that the Jewish state return the Golan Heights, a mountainous plateau seized by Israel in 1967.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly expressed interest in resuming talks, but Israel says Syria's continued support for Hezbollah is too great a stumbling block.

Israel and the United States accuse Syria and Iran of arming, training and funding Hezbollah. Syria and Iran say their support to the Shi'ite anti-Israel faction is purely political.

Lebanese security and political sources said in May that Hezbollah had replenished its rocket arsenal and received improved anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles from Iran via Syria since a UN-backed truce halted hostilities in August.

The Beirut government says it has no proof of arms transfers from Syria since August.

Reuters>