Lost military supply route through Syria after Bashar al-Assad's fall, says Hezbollah's Naim Qassem: Report

Under Assad, Hezbollah, backed by Iran, used Syria to bring in weapons and military supplies from Iran via Iraq and Syria into Lebanon.

However, on December 6, anti-Assad fighters seized the Iraq-Syria border and cut off that supply line, and two days later, Islamist rebels captured Damascus.

"Yes, Hezbollah has lost the military supply route through Syria at this stage, but this loss is a detail in the resistance's work," Qassem said in a televised address on Saturday, without directly naming Assad.

"A new regime could come and this route could return to normal, and we could look for other ways," he added.

Hezbollah began its involvement in Syria in 2013 to support Assad in his fight against rebels attempting to overthrow him.

Last week, as rebel forces neared Damascus, the group sent officers to oversee the withdrawal of its fighters.

The Assad family's more than 50-year rule has now been replaced by a transitional caretaker government established by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate that led the rebel offensive.

Qassem commented that Hezbollah "cannot judge these new forces until they stabilise" and "take clear positions," but expressed hope that the Lebanese and Syrian people and governments could continue working together.

"We also hope that this new ruling party will consider Israel an enemy and not normalise relations with it. These are the headlines that will affect the nature of the relationship between us and Syria," Qassem said.

Hezbollah and Israel had exchanged fire across Lebanon's southern border for almost a year in clashes triggered by the Gaza war, before Israel launched an offensive in September that resulted in the deaths of most of Hezbollah's top leadership.