DAMASCUS, 10 August 2003 — Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass renewed yesterday his country’s support for Hezbollah despite a US demand that Damascus rein in the radical Lebanese movement after it attacked Israeli Army positions. “Resistance is a legitimate right,” Tlass told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News. “We see the Lebanese national resistance, the Hezbollah and the uprising in Palestine in this perspective.”
He accused “Israel, the United States and internal agents” he did not name of exerting pressure on Syria to force it to accept “a settlement dictated by the Israeli enemy which harms our legitimate rights.”
Tlass did not comment on Hezbollah’s shelling on Friday of Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms area, but his remarks came after the US administration put both Beirut and Syria on notice to prevent further attacks. “The time has come for them to end support for Hezbollah,” deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said on Friday. The Hezbollah said it had carried out the offensive, the first in seven months, in retaliation for the death of one of its militants in a Beirut car bomb last week that it blamed on Israeli agents.
The Shebaa Farms region was formerly part of Syria. It was occupied by Israel in 1967 and is claimed by Beirut with Damascus’s accord.
Tlass also commented on the findings of a US congressional probe into the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks released in July which found that Saudi Arabia may have had a hand in the terror strikes. “These are unjustified accusations,” Tlass said of the 900-page report. He accused “the Zionist lobby in the United States” of orchestrating the campaign against Saudi Arabia. “How could Saudi Arabia support terrorism when it is suffering from it?” he asked.
AFP adds: Israel has protested to the UN Security Council over Lebanese and Syrian backing for Hezbollah, Public Radio reported yesterday.
