https://arab.news/4v6fg
- The government announced three days of official mourning, SANA reported
DAMASCUS: Syria on Saturday condemned Israel’s killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, one of Damascus’s key supporters in years of civil war, and declared public mourning.
A foreign ministry statement carried by state news agency SANA said that the late Friday air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs that killed Nasrallah was a “despicable aggression.”
“The Zionist entity (Israel) confirms through this despicable aggression, once again... its barbarism and wanton disregard for all international standards and laws,” it said.
“The Syrian people... have never for a day forgotten (Nasrallah’s) positions of support,” the statement added.
The government announced three days of official mourning, SANA reported.
Hezbollah since 2013 has openly backed the forces of President Bashar Assad in his country’s civil war, which broke out after the repression of anti-government protests.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country since the war began in 2011, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from Hezbollah.
Along with Russia, Hezbollah backer Iran has helped Assad regain territory lost earlier in the civil war.
While Damascus condemned Nasrallah’s killing, in areas outside government control, some were celebrating, including in the Idlib jihadist-run rebel bastion.
Many Syrian opposition supporters and activists consider Hezbollah responsible for their woes, after the group fought Syrian rebels in a number of areas, leading to heavy losses among opposition factions and forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee.