The May 9 speech made by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was certainly one of his most striking. For the first time, Nasrallah, who is very good when it comes to nuance, spoke quite clearly about Hezbollah’s commitment to the Syrian army. Going far beyond his previous declared support or the Syrian people — where he had called for dialogue between the regime and the opposition and indicated he was limiting Hezbollah’s aid to the Lebanese population living in Syrian border villages — he clearly explained this time that the battle in Syria is a strategic issue.

The "Friends of Syria," he said, without listing them — but one can easily guess that he was mainly talking about Iran, Russia and Hezbollah — will not let Syria fall into the American-Israeli camp or in the hands of the takfiris.

For him, the conflict is no longer between a regime and its opposition, but between two axes, with one of them being the US-Israel axis. Consequently, sending men to fight in Syria alongside the regime forces has become fully justified and even desirable.

Moreover, Nasrallah gave his speech with unusual frankness after his recent trip to Tehran, where he was seen standing on an equal footing with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This shows that he has now taken up on a regional role, strengthening ties between Hezbollah and Russia. In this regard, sources close to Hezbollah said that Nasrallah had met with Mikhail Bogdanov, the special envoy of the Russian president, in Tehran before heading back to Lebanon.