CLASHES ALONG SYRIA'S BORDER WITH LEBANON HAVE RAISED FEARS THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR COULD
SPREAD TO ITS NEIGHBOR.
THE LEBANESE MILITANT GROUP HEZBOLLAH HAS JOINED THE SYRIAN FIGHT ON THE GOVERNMENT
SIDE, WHILE LEBANESE SUNNI FIGHTERS ARE SUPPORTING THE REBELS.
VOA'S JERUSALEM-BASED CORRESPONDENT, SCOTT BOBB, RECENTLY TRAVELED TO LEBANON, AND TALKED
WITH ME ABOUT LEBANESE INVOLVEMENT IN SYRIAN CONFLICT.
SCOTT, WHY HAS HEZBOLLAH FORMED THIS ALLIANCE WITH THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT?
FIRST OF ALL HEZBOLLAH IS A CLIENT OF THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT AND SYRIA'S PATRON IRAN
AND SO IF IT LOSES, IF THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT FALLS HEZBOLLAH LOSES AN IMPORTANT SOURCE
OF ARMS AND POSSIBLY FUNDING.
SO ITS LEADER HASSAN NASRALLAH SAID A FEW WEEKS AGO THAT HE WOULD NOT ALLOW ASSAD TO
FALL.
AND HOW MUCH OF A GAME CHANGER IS THIS ALLIANCE?
IT'S A GAME CHANGER TO THE DEGREE THAT YOU HAVE SEVERAL THOUSAND WELL TRAINED, WELL-ARMED
FIGHTING TROOPS BASICALLY WITH NOT JUST A POLITICAL COMMITMENT BUT A DOCTRINAL, RELIGIOUS,
IDEOLOGICAL COMMITMENT WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY WILLING TO FIGHT TO THE DEATH WHO ARE NOW SUPPORTING
AND BOLSTERING THE SYRIAN TROOPS WHO HAD BEEN DEPLETED BY DEFECTIONS, DEMORALIZED AND JUST
TIRED AFTER TWO YEARS OF FIGHTING.
AND WE'VE SEEN ALSO THE PRESENCE OF LEBANESE SUNNI FIGHTERS SUPPORTING SYRIAN REBELS.
HOW STRONG OF AN INFLUENCE ARE THEY NOW?
THEY'RE PROBABLY SEVERAL, SOME HUNDREDS MAYBE MORE BUT THEY ARE SUNNI FIGHTERS FROM DOZENS
OF COUNTRIES, IRAQ, SOME FROM JORDAN, FROM NORTH AFRICA, EVEN FROM NORTH AMERICA AND
EUROPE WHO HAVE COME IN TO JOIN, TO HELP THEIR BROTHERS AS IT WERE IN THIS STRUGGLE.
SO IT HAS WIDENED AND, SHALL WE SAY, AGGRAVATED SECTARIAN TENSIONS OR DIVIDES BETWEEN SUNNIS
AND SHIITES ACROSS ESPECIALLY THE MIDDLE EAST BUT EVEN ELSEWHERE.
NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR TOWN OF QUSAIR.
WE'VE SEEN THE HEZBOLLAH FORCES THERE SUPPORTING ASSAD'S FORCES.
WE'VE SEEN THE SUNNI FIGHTERS THERE AS WELL SUPPORTING THE REBEL FORCES.
WHY HAS THIS TOWN BEEN SO IMPORTANT?
QUSAIR LIES ON AN IMPORTANT HIGHWAY THAT LINKS DAMASCUS WHICH IS INLAND TO THE MEDITERRANEAN
SEA.
IT ALSO IS VERY CLOSE TO THE BORDER WITH LEBANON.
AND ON THE LEBANESE SIDE YOU HAVE AN IMPORTANT CENTER BOTH FOR ARMS AND JUST POPULATION.
ALSO YOU HAVE SCATTERED SUNNI POPULATIONS TOO.
SO THAT BORDER AREA HAS BEEN A ZONE OF INFILTRATION AND SUPPLY AND EVACUATION FOR BOTH SIDES.
AND SO FOR THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL ONE, THE HIGHWAY WHICH ALSO, BY
THE WAY LEADS TO HOMS, ANOTHER IMPORTANT CITY BUT ESPECIALLY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA WHERE
THERE ARE LOTS OF THE ALAWITE AND SHIITE POPULATIONS.
AND TWO TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL THAT BORDER WILL BE A VERY IMPORTANT FIRST STEP ON WHAT
LOOKS LIKE AN OFFENSIVE TO TRY AND REGAIN SIGNIFICANT PORTIONS OF LOST TERRITORY.
NOW YOU TALK ABOUT THIS DIVIDE BETWEEN THE SUNNI MUSLIMS AND THE SHIITE MUSLIMS, AS THIS
BECOMES AN INCREASINGLY SECTARIAN CONFLICT WHAT KIND OF AN EFFECT IS THIS GOING TO HAVE
ON SYRIA AS A SOCIETY?
ARE WE GOING TO SEE A SYRIA AS DIVIDED AS LEBANON OR IRAQ?
SOME, WE COULD.
SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT'S WHAT IT MAY END UP BEING ESPECIALLY THE LONGER THE FIGHTING GOES
ON AND IS GETTING MORE AND MORE BRUTAL AND MORE AND MORE ATROCITIES ARE BEING COMMITTED
THE MORE LIKELY THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN.
IT'S ALREADY A DIVIDED COUNTRY.
ALREADY THE FABRIC OF SOCIETY IF YOU WILL HAS BEEN SHREDDED TO A SIGNIFICANT DEGREE.
LOTS OF CRIMINALITY, PEOPLE TRYING TO SURVIVE, KIDNAPPINGS FOR RANSOM, LOOTING, ROBBERY,
ALL SORTS OF CRIMES AND SO FORTH THAT ARE GOING ON ALREADY, SO THE LONGER IT GOES ON
THE WORSE IT GETS.
IN ADDITION YOU HAVE THESE POPULATIONS THAT ARE FLEEING EITHER DISPLACED INTERNALLY IN
SYRIA, SEVERAL MILLION.
OR MORE THAN ONE AND A HALF MILLION REFUGEES OUTSIDE, THESE ARE MOSTLY SUNNIS AND IT WILL
BE DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO GO BACK TO SOME OF THEIR AREAS, THEY'VE BEEN DESTROYED OF IF
THEY ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE OPPOSITION GOVERNMENT FORCES AND THE SHIITES.
SO YES, YOU HAVE THE BEGINNINGS OF THIS.
SYRIA HAS ALWAYS BEEN A RELATIVELY SECTARIAN SOCIETY; IT HAS PRIDED ITSELF ON THAT.
BUT THERE ARE ELEMENTS OF PEOPLE THAT FEEL THERE SHOULD BE MORE RELIGION IN THE SOCIETY
AND THE GOVERNMENT.
NOT NECESSARILY AN ISLAMIST GOVERNMENT, ALTHOUGH THERE ARE SOME THAT BELIEF THAT.
SO IT'S GOING TO BE DIFFICULT TO SORT IT OUT AND IT'S GOING TO TAKE A LONG, LONG TIME TO
REBUILD EVEN WHAT'S BEEN DESTROYED SO FAR.
AND AGAIN, THAT WAS SCOTT BOBB -- OUR CORRESPONDENT IN JERUSALEM.
NOW, IT'S NOT JUST THE FIGHTING IN SYRIA THAT'S INVOLVING LEBANON.
LEBANON IS HOME TO MANY OF SYRIA'S 1.6 MILLION REFUGEES, AND THE UNITED NATIONS SAYS THAT
NUMBER COULD MORE THAN DOUBLE THIS YEAR.