Walid Sukariyya is a Sunni representative of the Hizbullah party in the Lebanese parliament, who served for many years as an officer in the Lebanese army. In an interview with Al-Quds Al-Arabi, he said that Syria has opened its border to anyone who wished to wage resistance, including Al-Qaeda fighters on their way to Iraq.
He said further that Syria's support of Hizbullah stemmed only from strategic military considerations - if Israel tried to invade Syria through Lebanon, Hizbullah would delay the Israeli forces; without it, Damascus would fall within hours.
Following are excerpts from the interview:(1)
Syria's Support of the Resistance in Lebanon Is Part of a Crucial Defensive Strategy, While Its Positions on Normalization and Negotiations with Israel, and on the Arab Peace Initiative, Are Merely Tactical Bargaining Chips
The Al-Quds Al-Arabi article states: "Sukariyya is certain that Israel cannot possibly agree to peace, and this is for objective reasons, the most important of which is that peace would prevent it from launching preemptive military strikes, at which it has excelled for decades, and whose purpose has always been to crush the resistance and generate crises. Moreover, if Israel enters the peace process as a small state in its present boundaries, it will forever be a hostage in the hands of the U.S. Therefore, the Israelis want peace, but [only] after they [attain their goal of] the 'greater Israel' - because in its present dimensions, Israel cannot ensure its safety...
"[As for] Syria, Sukariyya says that it wants peace [too], but as part of [a general] Arab [agreement] and not in a separate framework. He adds that the understandings recently [reached] by Syria and Saudi Arabia will help to prevent normalization between the Arab world and Israel. [According to him,] Syria's rallying to the support of the resistance in Lebanon, and [its] occasional [attempts] to direct the activity [of the resistance], [are part of] a defensive strategy which is crucial for Syria, while Syria's stance on normalization [with Israel], on the [Arab peace] initiative, on the negotiations [with Israel], and even on peace are [only] tactical bargaining chips. Since, for obvious reasons, Syria cannot [conduct] a confrontation through direct resistance, it has opened [its] border with Iraq to all the resistance fighters of Al-Qaeda, even though it does not share their ideology. [As for Hizbullah, Syria] supports it because it is the only resistance [force] that is present in Lebanon, in the area closest to Israel..."
Hizbullah Will Delay an Israeli Attack on Syria; Without It, Damascus Will Fall within Hours
"Syria cannot abandon Lebanon, [Sukariyya says.] This option does not exist, for reasons that have to do not with politics but with the security and military [considerations]. Syria's front [with Israel] stretches from Jabl Al-Sheikh [Mount Hermon] to the Jordanian border, and [all the way] to the Lebanese front and the Mediterranean. This is why Damascus supports the resistance - because it dos not want to confront the enemy itself, [so] supporting the resistance is its only way for it to defend Al-Sham [i.e., Greater Syria].
"From a military standpoint, Damascus has no [other] way to delay the Israeli army and to impede its advance [into the Syrian heartland]. Since the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon, the entire Beqa' region has become exposed [to an Israeli attack]. Therefore, the value of the resistance [in Syria's eyes] is that it can delay an Israeli invasion into Syrian soil. Without the resistance, Israel would be able to enter the Al-Masna' area [in Syria] within hours. Sukariyya explains that Syria needs a steadfast force on the Israeli border in the Al-Qa'im region - not in order to interfere in Lebanon's [internal] politics, as the simple folk believe, but for a clear military and strategic reason, namely in order to defend Damascus. Without the resistance [i.e., Hizbullah], Damascus will be as good as fallen, from a military standpoint. Syria's direct lines of defense will be exposed, and it will take only a few hours to surround Damascus and take it. The situation [in Lebanon] is different from the one in the Golan, where [Syria's] military lines are [defensible]."
The Missiles Fired by Hizbullah in the 2006 War Were Syrian
"Sukariyya admits that the resistance in the Lebanese region ... may not prevent a forceful ground offensive by Israel aimed at taking Damascus. However, [Hizbullah's] presence will delay the Israeli army should it decide to attack. As everyone acknowledges, this is a great advantage in a military campaign, and it will be of considerable value to the Syrians now that they have withdrawn from the Beqa' region. This, Sukariyya believes, is why... Syria naturally pursues a strategy of directing [the activity of] the resistance in Lebanon and supporting it. Also, according to him, this is why it is no longer a secret that the missiles that destroyed the Israeli tanks during the July [2006] aggression were actually Syrian."
Endnote:
(1) Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London) October 19, 2009.
