Hezbollah Displays Armored Vehicles for 1st Time in Lebanon

Hezbollah’s armored vehicles. (Social media)
Hezbollah’s armored vehicles. (Social media)
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Hezbollah Displays Armored Vehicles for 1st Time in Lebanon

Hezbollah’s armored vehicles. (Social media)
Hezbollah’s armored vehicles. (Social media)

Hezbollah supporters posted on Sunday photos and videos showing armored vehicles and tanks belonging to the party in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, just days after the ammunition truck incident in the town of Kahaleh that led to the killing of one resident and a Hezbollah member.

The vehicles are expected to be displayed on Monday during a Hezbollah military parade on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of the end of the July 2006 war.

The parade will mark a precedent for Hezbollah as the party had previously only organized symbolic unarmed military displays.

It also comes at a time of mounting criticism of Hezbollah’s weapons by partisan, political and spiritual powers, including Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai, who stressed during Sunday mass sermon that it was “not possible to live on one land, where there is more than one state, one army and one authority.”

A Hezbollah truck carrying ammunition overturned in the Christian-dominated area of Kahaleh last week, sparking clashes and tensions between the residents and Hezbollah members, leading to the death of two persons.

Head of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad said the Kahaleh incident was “due to the incitement and hatred stirred by others.”

He added: “Israel’s allies have influenced some fools in the country to incite against the resistance [Hezbollah].”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general Sheikh Naim Qassem noted that the party had no decision now regarding a comprehensive military confrontation with Israel.

In a statement to the Iranian Mehr agency, he said Israel was trying to achieve small and limited goals, “but all this will neither lead to a direct confrontation, nor does it mean that Israel is now in a state of great readiness for war.”



Türkiye Says It Believes Kurdish Fighters Will Be Forced Out of All Syrian Territory

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Says It Believes Kurdish Fighters Will Be Forced Out of All Syrian Territory

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)

Türkiye believes Syria's new rulers, including the Syrian National Army (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive Kurdish YPG fighters from all territory they occupy in northeastern Syria, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said on Sunday.

Türkiye regards the Syrian YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington, and the European Union.

The YPG spearheads an alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is backed by the United States and controls territory in northeastern Syria. Since the fall of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, Türkiye and Syrian groups it backs have fought against the SDF, seizing the city of Manbij.

"We believe that the new leadership in Syria and the Syrian National Army, which is an important part of its army, along with the Syrian people, will free all territories occupied by terrorist organizations," Guler said during a visit to Turkish troops on the Syrian border with military commanders.

"We will also take every necessary measure with the same determination until all terrorist elements beyond our borders are cleared," he said in a video released by his ministry.

Ankara has demanded the Syrian Kurdish fighters disband, and has called on Washington to withdraw its support. The US military acknowledged last week it has 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria, twice as many as it had said previously.

On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Türkiye would do "whatever it takes" to ensure its security if Syria's new administration was unable to address its concerns.