News / Lebanon

Saudi failed in anti-Hezbollah campaign: Official

Saturday, 05 March 2016 4:01 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 08 March 2016 9:03 AM ]

Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, deputy chief of Hezbollah’s executive council

A high-ranking Hezbollah official says Saudi Arabia has failed to obtain any tangible results in the campaign against the Lebanese resistance movement.

“It's enough for us that Israel praised Saudi Arabia and the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council for designating Hezbollah a terror organization," Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, the deputy chief of Hezbollah’s executive council, said in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Saturday.

He added that media and political campaigns against Hezbollah to distort its reputation have failed.

"They can do and say whatever they want, but the dignity of the resistance is a mountain that will never be shaken by a Saudi, US or Israeli decision,” the top Hezbollah official pointed out.

On Wednesday, the six-nation [P]GCC issued a statement labeling Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The Arab bloc comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Hezbollah later denounced the designation and described the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council member states as “reckless and hostile.”

Algeria refused to classify the movement as a terrorist organization. Palestinian resistance movement, Islamic Jihad, also praised Hezbollah as a resistance movement which has a history in the struggle against the Zionist entity as well as in supporting the Palestinian cause.

Iran, Syria and Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement have also slammed the [P]GCC move.

The measure came days after Riyadh retracted a USD four-billion aid pledge to Lebanon’s security forces. The decision was made in the wake of recent victories by the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters, against the Takfiri militants fighting to overthrow the Damascus government.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said the Saudi regime seeks to spark off “strife” between Shias and Sunnis in the Middle East, urging the Lebanese not to be intimidated by threats being posed by Riyadh and Tel Aviv.

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