U.S. officials have evaluated Hezbollah’s deepening involvement in the Syrian conflict, and find themselves concerned:

Hezbollah fighters joined Syrian government forces in the siege of a rebel-held town inside the war-torn country on Monday, local residents said, deepening the Iran-backed group’s involvement in Syria’s civil war and raising alarm among U.S. officials… The latest phase of Syria’s conflict raises fresh U.S. concerns about Hezbollah, a Tehran-backed group that is a member of Lebanon’s governing partnership and is deemed by the U.S. to be a terrorist organization. U.S. officials have seen units of Hezbollah fighters emerging in different parts of Syria with numbers ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 fighters, a U.S. official said.

The confirmation of Hezbollah’s involvement comes at a time when Israel is making concerted efforts to dampen regional tensions in the aftermath of Friday and Sunday air strikes against Iranian and Hezbollah assets inside Syria. The air strikes were widely attributed to the Jewish state,

Meanwhile the New York Times reported yesterday that Hezbollah’s participation in Syria was eroding the group’s credibilit inside Lebanon. The Iran backed-terror group has, since its creation, justified its vast arsenal and its usurption of Lebanese sovereignty as necessary to protect Lebanese territory from attack. It is now battling on behalf of an external government that is routinely bombing Lebanese territory.

The juxtaposition is creating dissonance in Lebanon and in some corners of the U.S. foreign policy community:

Though Hezbollah has never been militarily stronger — it has more than replenished the weapons and fighters it lost in its brief war with Israel in 2006 — it finds itself in an unaccustomed situation. It is struggling to preserve credibility at home and fend off an array of new challenges abroad as it fights to preserve Mr. Assad’s rule, and the crucial arms pipeline he provides.

[Photo: Magnus Manske / Wiki Commons]