Um Ali is stoic as she remembers how her son died while fighting in the ranks of Syrian government forces against rebels in al-Kussair, a town near the border with Lebanon. "I am ready to send more sons to die in Syria to protect the Shiite shrines," the Lebanese mother said. "He died for a good cause."
Um Ali, like the majority of Hezbollah's followers, supports the arguments of the Lebanese group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to justify the Shiite militant group's growing involvement in the neighbouring civil war and its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who hails from the Alawite sect, a Shiite offshoot.
Two weeks ago, Nasrallah admitted that his group was fighting alongside al-Assad's troops to protect Shiite shrines and Shiites living in a cluster of villages near the border with Lebanon against rebels who are mostly from the country's Sunni Muslim majority. But as more Hezbollah fighters reportedly are being killed in recent fighting in al-Kussair, about 20 kilometres from the Lebanese border, many people are questioning such involvement.
Prominent Shiite scholars stepped up their criticism of Nasrallah for pushing Shiites into such "a senseless war" to save al-Assad's regime. "The intervention of Hezbollah in the current fighting on Syrian territory is unacceptable from both a religious and legal point of view," Sheikh Ali al-Amine said.
"The responsibility of defending religious sanctities and Lebanese people in Syria rests with the Syrian regime alone," he wrote on his website. "It is neither the responsibility of Hezbollah nor the Lebanese state." "Jihad is to defend our homeland, Lebanon, and preserve our national unity," said al-Amine, who has backed the Lebanese government's policy of disassociating itself from the conflict.
The strongest condemnation of Hezbollah's involvement in Syria has come from Sheikh Sobhi Tfaili, the movement's former leader. He called on Hezbollah "not to defend the criminal regime that kills its own people while it never fired a shot against Israel." Tfaili, who led Hezbollah from 1989 to 1991, told Lebanese television last week that those killed in Syria would "go to hell" and are not considered martyrs.
But Um Ali, who lost her 20-year-old son in the latest battles in al-Kussair, said she believes differently. "For me, he is a martyr who died while protecting our holy shrines from al Qaeda-linked terrorists who are destroying Syria and killing the Syrian people," she said. Um Ali, who spoke without Hezbollah's permission, was concerned that her son's name not be disclosed.
Hezbollah is keen to keep reporters and photographers away from the funerals of its slain followers and their families, but its television station, al-Manar, has broadcast footage showing people attending funerals of at least five people. Among its dead was Hasan Shukur, 18, whose uncle Fayez Shukur is a former minister and head of the Lebanese Baath Party.
"I lost my nephew ... but his blood did not go to waste," Shukur said. "He fought those al Qaeda-linked terrorists who came from Chechnya or Afghanistan to destroy Syria and serve the interests of the US and Israel." He said he was confident the fight would continue until it "frees the Syrians from those extremists." A source close to Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley said those killed in al-Kussair were members of an elite commando unit headed by Hezbollah military commander Fadi al-Jazaar.
Al-Jazaar died in the fighting that started over the weekend when al-Assad's troops launched an offensive on the town. The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 28 Hezbollah fighters were killed. Hezbollah hospitals in Beirut and eastern Lebanon have been urging followers to donate blood because of the growing number of wounded fighters evacuated from Syria.
Despite the casualties, the group said it remained determined to continue to battle in a civil war that began in March 2011 and has cost 80,000 lives, according to UN estimates. "We will fight in all of Syria because we are fighting the Israeli enemy," said Sheikh Mohammad Yazbeck, a member of Hezbollah's highest decision-making body, the Shura Council.
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