Hezbollah chief makes overtures to Saudi Arabia for front against Israel

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem urges Saudi Arabia to turn “a new page” with the Iran-backed group and set aside past disputes to create a unified front against Israel, following years of hostility that strained Riyadh’s ties with Lebanon.

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 group, which was badly weakened by last year’s war with Israel.

In a televised address on Friday, Qassem says 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 says.

He says dialogue will “freeze the disagreements of the past, at least in this exceptional phase, so that we can confront Israel and curb it,” and says that pressuring Hezbollah “is a net gain for Israel.”