Hezbollah, a former ally of the ousted Bashar Assad regime, on Saturday, denied any involvement in the violence on Syria’s coast, where more than 500 people have been killed, including more than 300 Alawite civilians allegedly executed by the new security forces.

“The name of Hezbollah is starting to be linked to events in Syria, and the party is being accused of taking part in the ongoing conflict,” the party said in a statement from its press office. “Hezbollah clearly and categorically denies these baseless allegations and calls on the media to be accurate in their reporting and not to be drawn into disinformation campaigns that serve political objectives and suspicious foreign agendas.”

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First major outbreak of violence since Assad’s fall

Hezbollah is among the few Lebanese officials and parties that have remained silent on the situation in Syria, which is seeing its first major outbreak of violence since a rebel coalition led by the radical Sunni Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham took power on Dec. 8.

Clashes in Syria erupted Thursday after several days of tension in Latakia, a stronghold of the Alawite Muslim minority from which the Assad family hails. According to a new report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 340 Alawite civilians, including women and children, were killed by security forces and allied groups in the coastal region and the mountains near Latakia. The overall death toll from the escalation in western Syria has risen to at least 553, including 93 members of security forces and allied groups and 120 fighters loyal to the ousted president.

Hezbollah was a staunch ally of the Assad regime, and its downfall — along with the war with Israel — has contributed to the party’s declining political influence in Lebanon. On Friday, after tensions also flared in the Homs region, which borders Lebanon’s Hermel and northern Bekaa, local sources told our correspondent in the area, Sarah Abdallah, that neither Hezbollah nor local clans intended to get involved in the conflict in Syria. However, clashes had erupted in February between members of these predominantly Shiite “clans,” who are believed to be close to Hezbollah, and Syrian security forces.

Attempts to destabilize Syria

The Progressive Socialist Party, meanwhile, condemned the violence in western Syria and denounced “external attempts” to undermine the country’s security.

“The events unfolding on Syria’s coast are part of external attempts to destabilize Syria,” the PSP said in a statement, warning that this threatens the security of the entire region. The party urged against “falling into the traps that remnants of the old regime are setting to take revenge on the new administration that ousted it.” It called for a return to “calm and respect for the law” and stressed the need to “support the reconstruction of the new Syrian state, its army, and its security forces.”

Walid Joumblatt, the longtime PSP leader who remains a prominent party figure, was the first Lebanese official to visit Damascus to congratulate Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Shareh, following the fall of the Assad regime. The Druze leader also warned this week of what he claims are Israeli attempts to destabilize the Druze community.