Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states designated Shi’ite Hezbollah a terrorist organization in 2016. In recent months, Riyadh has joined Washington and Hezbollah‘s rivals within Lebanon in pressuring the Lebanese government to disarm the Islamist group, which was badly weakened by last year’s war with Israel.
In a televised address on Friday, Qassem said that regional powers should see Israel, not Hezbollah, as the main threat to the Middle East and proposed “mending relations” with Riyadh. “We assure you that the arms of the resistance [Hezbollah] are pointed at the Israeli enemy, not Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, or any other place or entity in the world,” Qassem said. (Read More)
