Hizballah chief accuses Arab countries of siding with Israel

Hizballah Secretary General lashed out against the Arab countries that designated his party as a terror group, accusing them of seeking to protect Israel from the "resistance".

Hassan Nasrallah's speech was made during the one-week commemoration of the death of Hizbaballah commander Ali Fayad in Syria. He said Hizballah has fought in Bosnia, Iraq and Syria in legitimate wars, denying charges of terror.

“This Shia-Sunni conflict is a lie, the GCC’s problem is not really with the Shia. [The Gulf] regimes' main concern has always been protecting Israel and some of them have conspired against those who stood in the face of Israel, especially the Saudi regime,” Nasrallah said during a televised speech.

Nasrallah went on to say that Lebanon would still be under Israeli occupation if it had relied on assistance from Arab countries.

“If we had waited for an Arab strategy to save Lebanon from Israeli occupation, Israel would still be in Lebanon, controlling Lebanon ... There would have been Israeli settlements in the country and the Lebanese youth would have been in Israeli prisons,” he said, reiterating a previous accusation that Saudi Arabia had pushed Israel to continue its war on Lebanon in 2006.

He asked why GCC states have not armed the Palestinians to fight Israeli occupation if it considers Hizballah a "terrorist group" unworthy of their support.

“We do not want anything from you, we just want you to leave this resistance alone. It is the last remaining hope for the region’s people,” he added, directing his remarks to the GCC states.

Nasrallah thanked the Arab governments and parties that refused his group's designation as a terrorist organisation.

The countries of the GCC decided to declare Hizballah a terrorist group last week, citing its alleged role in destablising their countries and fighting alongside Houthi rebels in Yemen.

This came a few days after the GCC implemented a number of punitive measures against Lebanon's government, including travel bans and suspension of military aid programmes, citing what they say is Iran and Hizballah's dominance over the country's decision making in a way that undermines Arab interests.