June 18, 2016•Update: June 20, 2016
By Hamza Takin
BEIRUT
Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah group has denied reports about clashes with Syrian regime forces in northern Syria.
In a statement Saturday, Hezbollah said that reports about clashes between group fighters and Syrian regime forces "aim to raise the low morale of U.S.- and Israel-linked groups".
“We categorically deny such allegations and lies produced by a media machine, which is used to make lies and fabrications,” the group said.
It attributed the reports to what it described as media outlets with links to local and Arab intelligence services "that are released with the aim of improving the low morale within the Takfiri groups backed by the US and Israel".
The statement went on to reiterate Hezbollah’s strong relations with the Syrian army “and other allies on Syrian territory”.
Arab and foreign media had reported that Hezbollah fighters and regime forces had exchanged fire in Aleppo’s northern countryside, causing casualties among the two sides.
Hezbollah has been fighting alongside the regime of Bashar al-Assad since 2011, when Syria fell into a devastating civil war after the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
The Shia group has been quiet about how many of its members have been killed in Syria.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said that more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters have died in Syria.
