BEIRUT: A senior Hezbollah official said Sunday that the parties who have placed a wager on the collapse of the Syrian regime have lost. “All those who have bet on the toppling of the regime within days, weeks or months as said by the Americans, have failed,” Sheikh Nabik Qaouk, deputy head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, told a rally in the southern town of Rkay.

“The conspirators against Syria have hit a wall of failure. They are today living in a state of strategic loss ...

The military intervention [in Syria] has become a mirage.” Qaouk was referring to the opposition March 14 parties which have come out in support of Syrian protesters.

“They are betting on changing the political equation in Lebanon through Syria.

The March 14 parties, which reject the resistance’s arms against Israel, support arms against Syria,” Qaouk said.