The leader of Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah warned Sunday that hard-line foreign fighters in Syria posed a global threat as they trickled home, accusing European countries of facilitating their joining the rebellion against President Bashar Assad.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said European countries didn't think the fighters, thousands of whom have poured into Syria mostly in al-Qaida inspired groups, would return home. Most are from the region, but smaller numbers hold European citizenship.
"Many of them are alive, and some of them have begun returning to their first fronts — in Europe, and other places. This is a threat to the security of Europe, international security, how will these countries deal with them?" he said, speaking via video link at a festival celebrating Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
Hezbollah leader also praised Syria's upcoming presidential elections, expected on June 3, and accused rebels of trying to disrupt the vote that Assad is widely expected to win.
As Nasrallah prepared to speak, Shiite neighborhoods in Beirut erupted in celebratory gunfire. Tens of thousands of people turned out waving the bright yellow Hezbollah flag in the southern town of Bint Jbeil, where Nasrallah spoke on screens from an undisclosed location.
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Source: AP