BICOM

Syrian opposition forces have issued Hezbollah with a 48-hour ultimatum to stop fighting on behalf of Syrian President Assad or risk strikes against its bases in Lebanon.

The warning was made in a statement released by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) that is seeking the downfall of Syria’s embattled president. It comes after the FSA and the Syrian National Council, which is the main Syrian opposition group, claimed that Hezbollah fighters are battling opposition forces in Syrian territory.  In particular, they say that Hezbollah has recently fired rockets from the Lebanese town of Hermel at opposition positions in Syria, in support of Syrian army operations.

The FSA statement warned of repercussions in Lebanon itself, saying “If the Hezbollah shelling on the Syrian land, on the villages and unarmed civilians, from inside the Lebanese land does not stop in the next 48 hours… we will take matters in our own hands to respond to the source of the shooting and stop it inside Lebanese territory.” According to the Washington Post, an FSA spokesman added, “If Hezbollah does not stop its land invasion, which is accompanied by covering fire…we will retaliate.”

The Syrian opposition warning is a further indication of Hezbollah’s direct involvement in the bloody Syrian internal conflict in support of President Assad. The Times says that over the last year, Hezbollah fighters have been active in areas close to Syrian’s border with Lebanon and in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of Damascus. Following the death of Ali Nassif, a senior Hezbollah commander in Syria in October, Hezbollah’s leader Sheikh Nasrallah admitted that some of the group’s members were fighting in Syria.