Hezbollah denies sending fighters to Syria

2012-10-12 38

Hezbollah deny sending fighters into Syria to help its ally President Bashar al-Assad to quell the bloody rebellion.

The group's chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made the statement on Manar TV on Thursday.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAYYED HASSAN NASRALLAH, HEAD OF LEBANON'S SHI'ITE MILITANT GROUP HEZBOLLAH, SAYING:

"From the beginning there have been people in the Syrian opposition who told Arab satellite channels that Hezbollah sent 3,000 fighters into Syria and was fighting alongside the regime. At the start we said that this wasn't true and I say that it is still not true."

Hezbollah's opponents have accused it of sending fighters into Syria to support the Assad regime.

Last month, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Nasrallah for helping Assad crush anti-government protests, as well as two other members for what it calls the group's "terrorist activities."