Iran, Hezbollah 'to defend Syria from attack'

BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and Iran will fight alongside the Syrian regime if it is attacked by foreign forces, a pro-Damascus Palestinian militant leader said on Tuesday.

In the event of "a foreign attack, we discussed with our brothers (in the Syrian regime), with (Hezbollah chief) Hassan Nasrallah and our brothers in Iran, we will be part of this battle," said Ahmed Jibril of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

In an interview with Beirut-based Mayadeen television, Jibril said that if a "Turkish-European alliance or NATO escalate... we will take to the streets and fight on behalf of all those with honour and our Syrian brothers."

Jibril also cited Nasrallah as saying Hezbollah would fight on behalf of the Syrian regime, and described the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah alliance as "one axis" that the PFLP-GC is part of.

He added that he met recently with Nasrallah, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, without specifying when.

He also noted that the Hezbollah chief "said he would join this battle, in the event of a foreign attack" on Syria.

The Iranian regime, he said, told him it would not allow a strike on Syria. "We have warned the Turks several times not to play with fire," Jibril said.

Echoing the Syrian regime's discourse, the PFLP-GC chief said the 16-month uprising against Assad was not a genuine local movement, but rather "a change in the foundations of this region in order to create a new Middle East," referring to a term coined in 2006 by former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Jibril described the defence of the Syrian regime as "a decisive battle." Victory would be necessary, he said, in order to "defeat the American and Zionist projects."

The PFLP-GC is a radical Palestinian faction that is based in Damascus.