Hezbollah: Political solution for Syria

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BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 16 (UPI) -- Both parties to the conflict in Syria should lay down their arms in an effort to find a political solution to the conflict, the leader of Hezbollah said.

This week marks the first anniversary of the uprising against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. It coincides with the seventh anniversary of the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, where demonstrators managed to seize autonomy in a government influenced heavily by Damascus.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in a video message, said Syria was at risk of collapsing into civil war. Since the first day of the uprising, he said, Hezbollah has called on Syrians to look for a political solution to the crisis.

"There is only a political solution in Syria," he was quoted by Lebanon's newspaper The Daily Star as saying. "That is (for government troops and rebel soldiers) to lay down arms simultaneously within an agreed-upon mechanism in order to embark upon a clear political solution."

Nasrallah, a close ally of Damascus, said there's no chance of Assad's government collapsing. Assad's supporters, who rallied in the streets to mark the anniversary, are the ones who don't want civil war in the country, said Nasrallah.

The United Nations estimates at least 7,500 people have been killed in Syria as a result of the uprising. Damascus blames domestic terrorists for much of the unrest.