BEIRUT: The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group stood firmly behind his allies in Syria on Wednesday in his first comments on the country's uprising, saying that toppling the Damascus regime would serve only US and Israeli interests.
Hezbollah has much to lose if Syrian President Bashar Assad is deposed. Besides receiving money from Syria, Hezbollah also is believed to receive Iranian weapons shipments through the country.
''Overthrowing the regime in Syria is in the American and Israeli interest,'' Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech marking ''Liberation Day,'' which celebrates the withdrawal of the Israeli army from southern Lebanon in 2000 after 18 years of occupation. ''They want to overthrow the regime and replace it with a moderate regime.''
Nasrallah spoke during a time of great upheaval in the region, including the uprising in Syria and a May 15 march by Palestinian refugees on Israel's borders, as well as two highly contentious speeches by the Israeli prime minister and American president Barack Obama.
While praising uprisings that toppled longtime dictators in Egypt and Tunisia, Nasrallah urged the Syrian people to ''protect their country'' and give a chance for the Syrian leadership to implement reforms.
''We are worried about what is being plotted for the regime in Syria and the Syrian people,'' Nasrallah said, echoing Assad's claims that the events in Syria were a foreign conspiracy aimed at weakening the country's leadership.
Nasrallah rejected US and Western sanctions on Syrian leaders.
''We should all cooperate so that Syria may emerge strong and immune,'' he said.
''President Bashar Assad believes in reform and is serious and ready to go a long way toward reforms, but in a calm and responsible manner,'' he said.
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