Nasrallah Orders Hezbollah Leaders To Cut All Communications With Syria

al-Qanat:
Informed sources told al-Qanat that tensions have arisen between Iran- Hezbollah, and Syria, after the assassination in Damascus last February of Imad Mughnieh, when the Syrians refused to allow Iran or Hezbollah take part in the investigations.

The strategic relations between Damascus and Tehran (and Hezbollah) began to deteriorate and became altered by mistrust and suspicion. It seems that the doubts raised by Hezbollah about a Syrian role in selling of Mughnieh to Israel has gone beyond the leadership of the Syrian intelligence in Damascus, to include its agents in Lebanon, specifically in Beirut's southern suburb, as Hezbollah rounded up dozens of Syrians on suspicion of links with the Syrian intelligence, and subjected them to Lengthy investigations and interrogations.

Western intelligence sources revealed that the weeks following Mughnieh's assassination, which also saw the killing of Mohammad Abu-Libdeh, Hamas Burohead in Damascus, indicated that there is a Syrian decision to resume negotiations with Israel.

Iran's intelligence was able to confirm such suspicions when it became aware of the negotiations taking place in Turkey. These developments prompted the leadership of Hezbollah, in coordination with Tehran, to put in place a plan of action for a possible agreement between Damascus and Tel Aviv, and reactivate a plan of separation between Syria and Iran, as Tehran does not only see such developments as an indication of a Syrian move towards disarming Hezbollah, but also as a preliminary step preceding a war against Iran, and also a major change in the regional and international equation.

The sources said Iran and Hezbollah have adopted a secret and multilateral preemptive plan, that would evolve according to the progress of the negotiations, without causing a public rupture with Syria, while still considering the possibility of the failure of the negotiations and the return of Syria to its alliance with Iran.

The first step to achieve this was to impose a new formula in Lebanon to cut off the road on Syria, and take away from it its dominance over Hezbollah. Hezbollah has thus activated a plan to shrink the Syrian role in Lebanon, and reduce its military and political involvement in the Party. In fact, last April, the leadership of Hezbollah issued a secret memorandum that was signed by Hassan Nasrallah himself, advising military officials and politicians to suspend all trips to Syria and stop dealing with the Syrian intelligence network in Lebanon.
(read the article in Arabic>)