Naim Qassem
Naim QassemHizbullah Website

Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's deputy secretary general, has warned that U.S. aggression on Syria, in response to the Assad regimes' use of chemical weapons, will affect the entire world. 

Qassem's remarks came after an interview yesterday in which President Bashar al-Assad warned the United States to "expect everything;" although he later clarified that a possible terrorist attack may be carried out by the rebels and not necessarily by the Syrian government. 

Qassem said during a ceremony, “You see people in the Christian and Islamic worlds opposing the aggression against Syria because the Islamic and Christian worlds will be affected by the aggression.” 

“It will even affect the entire world. Thus, we say to America: Stop your war and aggression and resort to reason again, think of a political solution and let the Syrians determine their own fate,” he declared.

Qassem dismissed the notion of any military intervention in Syria, and recommended that the U.S.  pursue a political solution instead. 

"We've said many times that a political solution in Syria, not military, solution will be reached between the regime and the opposition and it will not face any external solution whether it is called a military solution or whether it wears a military cover."

Lebanese politicians and foreign diplomats have expressed their desire to distance themselves from a possible U.S. led military strike against Syria, fearing the possibility of further "spillovers" into Lebanon. The country has already experienced violent convulsions in the past few months, including sporadic gun-battles between pro-Assad and pro-rebel militias, assassinations, and a series of car bomb attacks against Hezbollah strongholds. Many Lebanese from different sides of the Sunni-Shia divide have traveled to Syria to take part in the ongoing, and increasingly sectarian, conflict there.

Yet, Iranian officials have also warned recently that the reaction of Syria's allies against a military attack will destabilize the entire region and will be felt in other places around the world. Syria has threatened to attack the United States' ally in the region, Israel, with long-range missiles.