I24 NEWS – The nuclear deal between Iran and world powers allows for an “historic opportunity” to face “threats” from Israel, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah during a meeting in Beirut on Tuesday.
Zarif’s statements were carried by Al-Manar, the television of the powerful Lebanese Shiite group, which is supported by Iran.
“Zarif said that the nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers has created an historic opportunity for regional cooperation to fight extremism and face threats posed by the Zionist entity,” Al-Manar reported.
Hezbollah has deployed thousands of fighters to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who recently suffered significant battlefield losses.
Zarif arrived in Beirut on Tuesday for a two-day visit. He also met Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam in Beirut Tuesday, in their first official meeting.
“We value the major role played by the prime minister in providing security, fighting terrorism and creating cooperation,” Zarif told a press conference after the 35-minute meeting.
Zarif stressed the importance of coordination between Iran and Lebanon on issue of “regional peace and stability.”
An official who attended the meeting said Salam and Zarif discussed Lebanon’s ongoing presidential vacuum and agreed there should be more discussion on this topic.
Zarif said he hoped for “more cooperation between the Lebanese and Iranian governments.”
The statements come ahead of the Iranian diplomat’s visit to Syria on Wednesday, in which he will discuss a “new plan” by the Islamic republic to help resolve the conflict there, his spokeswoman said.
48-hour ceasefire in Syria begins
A 48-hour ceasefire came into effect Wednesday in the last rebel stronghold along Syria’s border with Lebanon, a resident and monitoring group said.
“We really noticed that it was relatively calm this morning,” Mohammad, a resident of the flashpoint town of Zabadani, told AFP.
“We didn’t hear sounds of shelling or clashes, and we hope the situation stays like this.”
Pro-regime forces, including Lebanon’s Shiite militia Hezbollah, had been fighting rebel groups in a bid to seize the town since early July.
Late Tuesday, the two sides agreed to implement simultaneous 48-hour ceasefires in Zabadani and two regime-controlled villages in northwest Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said “no shots have been fired since 6:00 am” local time (0300 GMT) in Zabadani as well as Fuaa and Kafraya. .
Hezbollah and Iran are key military backers of the embattled regime of Assad. Together with regime forces, Hezbollah launched a fierce offensive last month to clear Zabadani of rebel groups.
Besieged by a rebel coalition including Ahrar al-Sham, their residents are mostly from the minority Shiite Muslim sect, of which the Alawite sect – to which the Assad clan belongs – is an offshoot.
The rebel alliance, which calls itself the Army of Conquest, regularly fires barrages of rockets into the villages, claiming a mission to avenge the offensive on Zabadani. Pro-government forces have demanded that “food and medical supplies enter Fuaa and Kafraya,” Abdel Rahman said.
Syria regime air raids, rebel fire on Damascus kill 50: monitor
At least 37 civilians were killed Wednesday in Syrian government air strikes near Damascus, while at least 13 people died as rebels fired a barrage of rockets into the capital, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least four children were among the dead in regime strikes on the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region, where some 120 people were also injured.
The death toll was likely to rise further, it said.
The air raids hit the towns of Douma, Saqba, Kafr Batna and Hammouriyeh in the rebel stronghold region outside the capital.
The strikes came as rebels fired dozens of rockets into Damascus.
The Observatory, without specifying whether the raids or attack on Damascus came first, said at least 13 people, among them 10 civilians, were killed as a barrage of more than 50 rockets slammed into Damascus.
It said another 60 people were wounded.
Syria’s state news agency SANA, citing a police source, put the toll at five dead with 55 others injured “most of them children and women.”
Rebels often fire into the Syrian capital from rear bases on the outskirts of Damascus, including at times barrages of hundreds of missiles.
Rights groups have condemned indiscriminate rebel rocket fire into the capital as amounting to war crimes.
The government, for its part, regularly carries out air strikes against rebel-held areas on the outskirts of Damascus, particularly Eastern Ghouta which is also under regime siege.
More than 240,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict since it broke out in March 2011, and millions have been forced to flee their homes.”
Here is the link for the Al Manar reports:
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=225861&cid=23&fromval=1&frid=23&seccatid=14&s1=1
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=225850&cid=23&fromval=1&frid=23&seccatid=14&s1=1