Hezbollah chief 'ready' to fight in Syria

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Friday he is ready to fight radical Muslims in Syria, a day after a deadly bombing in a Beirut stronghold of his Shiite pro-Damascus group. Nasrallah also accused Sunni extremists of responsibility for the car bombing that killed at least 22 people, in remarks after a previously unknown group, apparently a Syrian rebel cell, said it carried out Thursday's attack. "I will go myself to Syria if it is so necessary in the battle against the takfiris [radical Sunni Muslims], Hezbollah and I will go to Syria" to fight rebels trying to oust the Damascus regime, he said defiantly. In a speech broadcast on television as Lebanon held a day of mourning for the victims of the bombing, Nasrallah said "all indications concerning yesterday's attack lead to the takfiri groups". Police said at least 22 people were killed in the bombing that targeted the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut, between the Hezbollah bastions of Bir el-Abed and Rweiss. The Red Cross said 325 were wounded. Hezbollah is a key supporter of President Bashar al-Assad and has sent fighters across the border to Syria this year to bolster government forces, which have been battling a deadly anti-regime revolt since March 2011. Source: AFP