Bomb blasts in Damascus. Photo: Screenshot.

JNS.org – Pressure from stalwart Lebanese opponents of Hezbollah’s increasing involvement in Syria has prompted the terrorist organization to send a delegation to Iran to ask the Islamic Republic to shoulder more of the burden in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Sunday.

Mounting casualties among Hezbollah fighters in Syria has led some of the organization’s Lebanese supporters to petition its leaders to scale back its involvement in the Syrian conflict, the Saudi paper reported. Saudi Arabia supports the more Sunni-extremist Islamic elements fighting to topple Assad’s regime, elements that are also directly confronting Hezbollah’s Shiite fighters in Syria.

An anonymous source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the increasing numbers of Hezbollah men killed in Syria has raised concerns among the Lebanese Shiites, prompting some of them, particularly reasidents of Ba’albek, to visit Hezbollah Shura member Mohamed Yazbek and demand a halt on deployments of their men to Syria.

Ba’albek residents also stressed that their children had fought Israel in 2006 and other wars “in response to the call for resistance against Israel,” the source said.