Hezbollah Delegation in Moscow for Talks


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A delegation of lawmakers from Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement arrived in Russia’s capital, Moscow, for talks.

Led by Mohammad Raad, the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc – the political wing of Hezbollah - the delegation arrived in Moscow on Sunday on the invitation of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The three-day visit will include meetings at the foreign ministry and the Federation Council, the upper house of the parliament, and the State Duma, the lower house, Lebanon's al-Manar TV station reported.

Raad told Sputnik that the three-day visit aims to exchange views on the latest developments in Lebanon and the region.

He noted that the relationship between Hezbollah and Moscow is built on “common interests and a single or very close view regarding the situation in the region and the need for its stability”.

Both Russia and Hezbollah back the Syrian government in its fight against foreign-backed Takfiri militants, who have been wreaking havoc in the country since March 2011.

The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding the Takfiri terrorist groups.

Syrian government forces have taken back many areas once controlled by the terrorist groups. The government and allied forces are currently fighting the last bastions of militants in the northwestern province of Idlib and areas in the neighboring Aleppo province.

Before his visit, Raad had said that the formation of a new government in Lebanon may also be discussed during the trip, “but in the context of our assessment of the situation in Lebanon and the necessity of its stability and the efforts to accelerate the formation of the government”.

Since the Lebanese government formally resigned after a massive explosion in Beirut port last August, domestic political divisions and pressure by some Western states, mainly France, have so far hindered the formation of a formal cabinet.