Syria will “give Hizbullah everything” in recognition of its support and will follow the terrorist group’s model of “resistance” against Israel, a Lebanese newspaper on Thursday quoted President Bashar al-Assad as saying.

Hezbollah terrorists – Photo by EPA

His comments, published by Al-Akhbar, reportedly came during meetings with Lebanese visitors in Damascus and appeared intended to refute any suggestion that Israeli raids on Syrian targets would halt assistance to the Shiite group Hizbullah in Lebanon.

The newspaper said visitors quoted Assad as expressing “confidence, satisfaction and great gratitude towards Hizbullah,” according to the AFP news agency.

The organization is a long-time ally of the Syrian regime and has sent fighters to battle alongside Assad’s troops, particularly in the Qusayr district of the central province of Homs.

Damascus has long served as a supply conduit for Iran-backed Hizbullah, and Assad said they would reward the group for their loyalty.

“We have decided to give them everything,” the newspaper quoted him as saying, without elaborating.

“For the first time we feel that we and they are living in the same situation and they are not just an ally we help with resistance,” he said, as reported by AFP.

“We have decided that we must move forward towards them and turn into a nation of resistance like Hizbullah, for the sake of Syria and future generations.”

Assad was quoted as saying Syria could “easily” respond to Israeli air strikes by “firing a few rockets at Israel.”

“But we want strategic revenge, by opening the door of resistance and turning all of Syria into a country of resistance.”

“After the strike, we are convinced that we are fighting the enemy now, we are pursuing its soldiers deployed throughout our country,” he said, in apparent reference to rebel forces, which the regime has accused of being allied with the Jewish state.

Israel carried out two raids last week against military targets inside Syria, in an effort to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the terrorist group.

View original Arutz Sheva publication at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/167882#.UYui58p0k9E