BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement on Friday said a US pledge to keep itstroops in Syria to defeat Daesh was just a “flimsy excuse” to occupy thecountry.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that US forces wouldremain in Syria to both fight Daesh and counter the influence of PresidentBashar al-Assad.
Assad is a key ally of Hezbollah, which has deployed its forces to keep theDamascus in power.
During a televised address to commemorate Hezbollah fighters killed inSyria, the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah fired back at the US.
“The Americans are the last people to have anything to do with rolling backDaesh,” he said.
The US, according to the Hezbollah leader, was “creating flimsy excuses tokeep their forces and bases in the region. This is the real aim.”
The United States has deployed around 2,000 ground troops to Syria and itswarplanes patrol the skies over the east of the country, hunting Daeshremnants.
In a speech on Wednesday at Stanford University, Tillerson said the US”will maintain a military presence in Syria, focused on ensuring that ISIScannot re-emerge”.
But he also said the open-ended deployment is intended to help createconditions for Syrians to be able to remove Assad from office and rejectIranian influence.
The US has long considered Hezbollah a “terrorist” organisation and hastargeted it with sanctions.
Last week, the US Justice Department announced it was also creating aspecial task force to investigate Hezbollah’s alleged involvement in theinternational drug trade.
Current and former US officials have described a massive money-launderingoperation involving drugs and used cars that they say has helped Hezbollahfund its operations.
But Nasrallah vehemently denied the claims on Friday.
“These are unjust accusations, that are not based on facts or truth,” hesaid.
“Hezbollah has a very clear religious, jurisprudent, moral position onthis. For us, dealing drugs is forbidden (in Islam) and not allowed,”Nasrallah said.
He accused American security services and the CIA of “destroying societies”by spreading drug use abroad.
“Have a committee investigate your own involvement,” Nasrallah said.