Lebanon’s Hezbollah does not believe the latest Syria crisis will spiral into a direct U.S.-Russia conflict or a wider all-out war, its deputy leader said in comments published on Friday.
The heavily armed and Iranian-backed Shi’ite movement has been a vital military ally of President Bashar al-Assad in the seven-year-old Syrian war.
“We rule out the situation developing into a direct American-Russian clash or a wide state of war.
“The conditions do not point to a total war unless U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu completely lose their minds,” Sheikh Naim Qassem told newsmen.
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Trump has threatened strikes against Assad’s forces after a suspected gas attack on a rebel town where dozens of people died, and a Russian envoy has voiced fears of a wider conflict between Washington and Moscow.
The threat of confrontation between Russia, the Syrian state’s key ally, and the West loomed after Trump said on Wednesday missiles “will be coming” and lambasted Moscow for standing by Assad.
Trump has tempered those remarks since and even as he consulted allies Britain and France, there were signs of efforts to prevent the crisis from spiralling out of control.
The White House said no final decision has been made on Syria after Trump met his national security team on Thursday.
(Reuters/NAN)
