BEIRUT (Dispatches) – The head of the Executive Assembly of Hezbollah resistance movement, Hashem Safieddine, has demanded that Saudi Arabia stop its “hegemony” over the Lebanese people and “blatant interference” in regional countries’ affairs.
“What is required of it [Saudi Arabia] is not to interfere in the Lebanese people’s classifications and incite them against each other,” Safieddine told a party gathering near Beirut.
“For those interested in [Lebanon’s] ties with Saudi Arabia, we [announce that we] want Saudi Arabia to stop the policy of bullying nations”, Safieddine also said.
“We say to the United States, Saudi Arabia and their arms in Lebanon, you do not know the strength of this resistance, as it is capable of achieving a sovereign, free and independent homeland without any dependence on the outside,” he added.
The Hezbollah official expressed the party’s support for the opposition in the Arabian Peninsula, wishing them a “dignified life because they deserve it”.
The gathering addressed by Safieddine was organized by Hezbollah to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the execution of Saudi dissident Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr. The Shia cleric led protests in eastern Saudi Arabia in the early 2000s, but was executed by Riyadh along with 46 other people in January 2016 for “igniting sectarian strife” or “belonging to terrorist organizations”.
Safieddine’s remarks come amid tensions between Beirut and Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia in October expelled Lebanon’s ambassador and banned its imports after then Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi called for an end to the Riyadh-led aggression on Yemen.
Last month, Kordahi submitted his resignation to ease tensions with Saudi Arabia, but the rift is still ongoing.
Safieddine also said that the designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist group is an “aggression” that the group strongly rejects.
“We want the world to know that whoever targets the resistance with a word has to hear the answer.”
Hezbollah was established following the 1982 Zionist invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon. The movement drove out Zionist troops from Lebanon in May 2000.
Since then, the group has grown into a powerful military force, dealing repeated blows to the Israeli military, including during a 33-day war in July 2006.