TEHRAN – Hossein Jaberi Ansari met on Tuesday in Beirut with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the first by the Iranian official in his capacity as deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs.

The two sides discussed the latest regional developments with a focus on the Syrian crisis, according to Al-Manar.
Hezbollah has been backing President Bashar al-Assad ever since the Syrian crisis broke out in 2011, losing forces in the Syrian battleground. 
Only in June, 26 Hezbollah resistance fighters were martyred as well as one missing and one taken captive, Nasrallah said in an address on Monday.
Nasrallah called it a psycho war that his forces have suffered heavy losses fighting alongside Syrian government forces against insurgent groups.
“The defense of Aleppo is the defense of the rest of Syria, it is the defense of Damascus, it is also the defense of Lebanon, and of Iraq,” he was quoted as saying.
The meeting came two weeks after the blocking of one hundred bank accounts linked to Hezbollah members and legislators influenced by the U.S. threats that it would impose sanctions on banks or financial institutions that do business with Hezbollah.
In December, the U.S. Congress voted to impose sanctions on banks that deal with Hezbollah.
Dismissing the financial restrictions as unimportant, Hezbollah said it won’t be hurt by the financial restrictions, citing financial backing by Tehran.
“We are open about the fact that Hezbollah’s budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Nasrallah said on Monday.
“As long as Iran has money, we have money... Just as we receive the rockets that we use to threaten Israel, we are receiving our money. No law will prevent us from receiving it,” Nasrallah added.
Also on Monday, Jaberi Ansari met Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil in Beirut, exchanging views on developments in Syria and Lebanon.
The meeting took place as a group of suicide bombers detonated their explosives’ vests in a northeastern Lebanese village near the border with Syria on Monday, killing five people and wounding at least 15.
Jaberi Ansari also held separate meetings on Monday with Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Nabih Berri, the Lebanese parliament speaker.
Coupled with the recent visit to Moscow by ranking Ali Shamkhani, the meetings in Lebanon seem to be an attempt by Tehran to adopt a more harmonious policy toward the Syrian crisis.
AK/PA