Daily Star - Hezbollah denies member was captured by Syria rebels, August 15 2012

BEIRUT: Hezbollah denied Tuesday that one of its members had been caught by the Free Syrian Army while allegedly on a mission to Syria to fight alongside the regime against the rebels.

“Hezbollah categorically denies that Mr. Hasan Salim Meqdad is one of its members,” the party’s media office said.

Al-Arabiya television station reported Tuesday that the Free Syrian Army had arrested a Hezbollah member who crossed into Syria as part of a 1,500-member group whose members were later distributed between Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. The TV channel aired what it described as “confessions” by Meqdad regarding his alleged involvement in Syria.

Meqdad, who was shown in the video with three armed FSA members guarding him, said Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah had met with him among others and asked them to go to Syria. “He informed us that we have to go to Syria to support the Shiite Syrian regime and the Shiite Syrian Army. He also told us about armed Sunni gangs named the Free [Syrian] Army,” he said.

Meqdad identified himself as a sniper and said most snipers were trained in the northern town of Baalbek in Lebanon. “In my free time, I used to go around and see people. It was clear to me that all this talk is a lie and hypocrisy. There are no armed gangs, only a Free Army asking for freedom,” Meqdad said.

Meqdad voiced support for the FSA, saying the group was demanding freedom and the end of repression and injustice and addressed Nasrallah, asking him to stop harming the Syrian people.

It is not known whether Meqdad made his statements under duress.

LBCI TV quoted the Meqdad family in Beirut’s southern suburbs denying that their relative had any ties to Hezbollah. They added that Meqdad was in Syria because of financial problems and that he had been in the country for over a year, contrary to what he said in the video.

In the footage, Meqdad said he had entered Syria earlier this month.

Hasan’s brother warned on Al-Jadeed TV that the Meqdad family would not be silent over the kidnapping. “If the kidnappers do not respond in 24 hours, they will witness a reaction that they have never witnessed. The families of Meqdad, Jaafar and Zeaiter are prepared to take action,” he said in reference to the three powerful clans of the northeast Lebanon region of Baalbek.

Hezbollah, President Bashar Assad’s close ally, has repeatedly denied allegations that members of the resistance party were fighting alongside Syrian military forces against protesters.

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