Hezbollah denies Syria video claim

14 Aug 2012, 8:27 pm   -   Source: AAP

A Syria rebel video of an alleged Hezbollah member has apparently highlighted a new sectarian dimension to civil war.

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Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group has denied a man being shown in a Syrian rebel video is one of its members.

The video is the latest development to reflect rising sectarian divisions in Syria's civil war, which has seen an increase in abductions of Shi'ite Muslims who many rebel fighters perceive as supporting President Bashar Assad.

The regime is dominated by members of Assad's Alawite minority sect, an off-shoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Sunnis, who are the majority in Syria, make up the backbone of the opposition.

The video purporting to show the captured Lebanese man followed another video on Monday, showing what the rebels claimed was the downing of a Syrian MiG jet and armed men later holding the captured pilot who ejected.

Syria acknowledged a pilot had bailed out of a disabled plane but blamed the crash on a technical malfunction.

In the video with the Lebanese captive, a man identifies himself as Hassane Salim al-Mikdad, and says he was one of 1500 Hezbollah fighters sent to Syria on August 3.

The video was said to have been released by rebels and aired by Arab satellite TV Al-Arabiya on Tuesday.

"Most of those who entered were snipers," said the captive, whose face showed bruises as three masked gunmen stood behind him.

A man, who could not be seen, was asking the hostage questions.

The captive then says Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah gathered the men before they headed to Syria and told them they should go to "support the Shi'ite regime and the Shi'ite army against Sunni gangs".

The authenticity of the video could not be independently confirmed.

Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim group, is a key backer of Assad's regime.

The Syrian opposition has repeatedly accused it of sending fighters to Syria, which Hezbollah denies.

Hezbollah issued a statement on Tuesday saying it "categorically denies that Mr Hassane Salim al-Mikdad is one of its members".

There have been several attacks and abductions in Syria of Shi'ites from Lebanon, Iran and Iraq over the past months that were blamed on Syrian rebels.

In May, Syrian rebels captured 11 Lebanese Shi'ites shortly after they crossed from Turkey on their way to Lebanon.

Meanwhile the Syrian military on Tuesday launched a crackdown on pro-rebel areas in and around Damascus, the opposition said, as a 57-member bloc of Muslim nations prepared to decide whether to expel Syria.

Activists said troops were carrying out raids in the district of al-Midan in central Damascus, while helicopters were strafing areas on the outskirts of the capital.

The government said earlier this month that troops had "cleansed" Damascus of rebels.

However, rebel forces have continued to mount intermittent attacks.

At least 180 people were killed on Monday, 69 of them in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Activist Haytham al-Abdallah told DPA the bodies of 15 people were discovered in the rubble of a house in Hammouriyeh, on the edge of Damascus, after an attack by airforce jets.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) leaders attending an emergency summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday will consider a recommendation from foreign ministers for Syria's expulsion.

Damascus's key regional ally, Iran, has said it will not endorse the move.

"Iran will never approve such a decision, which is due to ignorance by regional states of the plots by the Zionist regime (Israel)," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

The 22-member Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November in protest against the regime's crackdown on the opposition.

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