Hezbollah denies link to cell accused of planning Damascus attack

BEIRUT, Apr 12 (AFP): Hezbollah denied on Sunday any link to a cell accused by Syrian authorities of planning an attack on a religious figure in Damascus, saying it conducts no activity in the country.
Syria's interior ministry said Saturday that security forces had arrested a woman attempting to plant an explosive device in front of a house belonging to an unidentified religious figure in the Bab Touma area of the Syrian capital.
Security forces dismantled the device and arrested five members of the cell, a ministry statement said.
According to initial investigations, the cell was linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and "its members received specialised military training abroad", the ministry added.
But the Iran-backed movement denied the ministry's claims on Sunday, saying they were "false and fabricated".
Hezbollah said it has "no activity, no ties and no relationship with any party in Syria, and has no presence on Syrian soil".
The group called on Syrian authorities "to conduct a thorough investigation before making accusations without evidence".
Pope Leo XIV expressed his closeness to the people of Lebanon on Sunday, saying there was a "moral obligation" to protect them while calling on warring parties to seek peace.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last month as Israel pursues the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, with Lebanese authorities reporting more than 2,000 people been killed in Israeli strikes. "I am closer than ever, in these days of sorrow, fear, and unconquerable hope in God, to the beloved Lebanese people," the pope told the crowd at St Peter's Square following his Regina Coeli prayer.