Hezbollah leader calls for ‘new page’ with Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate
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BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group on Friday called on Saudi Arabia to “open a new page” after years of tension and animosity, saying that the weapons of the Iran-backed group are directed toward Israel and not the oil-rich kingdom.
Naim Kassem’s comments came in the wake of rising regional tensions following this month’s Israeli strike on energy-rich Qatar, a neighbor of Saudi Arabia. The Sept. 2 strike hit the headquarters of Hamas’ political leadership killing six people.
It was not immediately clear how Saudi Arabia, which lists Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, would respond to Kassem’s proposal.
The tension between Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah is part of the yearslong struggle between the kingdom and Iran, the main backer of the Lebanese militant group — a rivalry that has often spilled into countries including Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria.
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia remain cold despite an agreement reached in China in March 2023 to restore diplomatic relations.
“I call on Saudi Arabia to open a new page with the resistance,” Kassem said in a televised speech Friday afternoon. He added that a dialogue between the two sides should be based on the basis that “Israel is the enemy and not the resistance.”
Kassem added that putting pressure on Hezbollah serves Israel and argued that if militant groups are defeated, other regional countries would be next to be targeted by Israel.
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact that defines any attack on either nation as an attack on both — a key accord in the wake of Israel’s strike on Qatar.
Relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia hit a low point in 2021 when the kingdom recalled its ambassador from Beirut and banned Lebanese imports over allegations that they were being used to smuggle drugs. The ambassador later returned to Beirut but the ban on imports remains in place.
Verbal attacks between the kingdom and Hezbollah have decreased over the past two years.
During a harsh war of words Saudi officials and media referred to Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and accused it of exporting drugs to oil-rich countries. In response, Hezbollah officials blasted the kingdom, blaming it for spreading extremist Islamic ideology in the Middle East.
In 2016, the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization for its role in fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces and helping Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.