BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s chief praised Saturday President Bashar Assad, describing him as the backbone of the resistance, and reiterated his party would prevent the fall of the regime in Damascus.

“Syria is the backbone of the resistance and we will not sit with our hands crossed,” Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

“We entered a new phase a few weeks ago: the phase of fortifying the resistance and protecting its backbone,” he said.

He also justified his party’s intervention in Syria, arguing the toppling of Assad would render his group vulnerable and open to being targeted by its enemies Israel and the United States.

Nasrallah, who only recently threatened his party would intervene militarily to prevent the fall of Assad, also argued that the Syrian rebel forces, which he said were predominantly made up of Takfiris, posed a grave danger to Lebanon and the religious diversity it enjoyed.