A recent meeting between United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Syrian President Bashar Assad shows that Arab nations are recognizing that the Assad regime has won the civil war in Syria, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah claimed during a speech on Thursday marking the movement’s Martyr’s Day.
The Hezbollah leader additionally claimed that Arab states had funneled millions of dollars into the civil war.
Nasrallah said that Israel is suffering from “existential fear,” and that recent IDF exercises in northern Israel show Israel is concerned that Lebanon will try to invade northern Israel.
“They build walls and hold semi-seasonal maneuvers in the northern region and put forward assumptions that the resistance will enter the Galilee, and this is evidence that the Israelis trust the resistance in Lebanon, the sincerity of its promises, the ability of its men, and the importance of its strategic minds,” said Nasrallah.
The Hezbollah leader added that Israel is “trying to breathe” by opening relations and normalizing relations with some Arab countries.
Nasrallah referenced reported failures in negotiations on the maritime border with Israel, saying Lebanon refused to submit to American dictates.
“The state that accepts external dictates is lying when it claims that it is sovereign, independent and free,” he said.
Nasrallah also referenced the diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon that has led to a number of measures by Gulf states against Lebanon, saying he would not “escalate or complicate matters.”
The crisis with Saudi Arabia broke out after Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi called the war in Yemen futile, that Yemen was being subjected to aggression, and that the Iran-backed Houthis in the country were defending themselves.
“Saudi Arabia presents itself as a friend of the Lebanese people, and the question is: is this how a friend deals with a friend?” asked Nasrallah, adding that Iran and Syria had both been insulted by Lebanese officials and had nevertheless maintained good relations with Lebanon.
Nasrallah called the Saudi reaction to Kordahi’s statements “very exaggerated,” saying that American and Arab officials had made harsher statements about the war in Yemen. Nasrallah also denied claims that Hezbollah was involved in the war in Yemen.
He also attacked Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Mecca and Medina, for not acting in a similar fashion when officials and personalities in Western countries insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
“Is what they considered insulting to them in the words of the information minister more dangerous, bigger and more heinous than what is said about the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him?” asked the Hezbollah leader.
Nasrallah stated that the pressure from Saudi Arabia was in order to fight Hezbollah, and that Saudi Arabia had supported and pushed Israel to continue fighting in the Second Lebanon War. The Hezbollah leader added that Saudi Arabia was trying to push its allies in Lebanon to spark a civil war, but that everyone in Lebanon either did not want a civil war or was unable to fight in such a war.
Nasrallah scoffed at claims that Hezbollah is dominant in Lebanon, saying a dominant party would not have trouble importing oil or removing judges, and yet Hezbollah has had difficulties with these issues.