Arab League condemns Nasrallah remarks on Bahrain
The Daily Star/Jan. 16, 2015
BEIRUT: Arab League foreign ministers strongly condemned Thursday recent remarks by Hezbollah’s leader against Bahrain as “a clear and unacceptable interference” in the kingdom’s internal affairs, calling on the Lebanese government to take a clear stance on the party’s remarks.
In a statement after a special meeting held in Cairo, the ministers expressed total opposition to Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s “repetitive interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain.” In a speech Friday, Nasrallah denounced Bahrain’s recent arrest of Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of the country’s main Shiite opposition group, calling the move “very dangerous.” Bahrain has been in turmoil since 2011 when a pro-democracy uprising was crushed by the monarchy. A backer of the uprising, Nasrallah accused the Bahraini government of being “tyrannical and oppressive.”
He also compared the Bahraini government’s behavior to the Zionist project which established Israel, accusing it of naturalizing Sunnis from across the region to change the country’s majority-Shiite demographic who form most of the opposition. The Arab League ministers called on the Lebanese government to “assume its responsibilities and clearly announce its stance on the remarks and behavior of Hezbollah’s secretary-general,” which they said aimed at destabilizing Bahrain and all countries which form the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The statement said Nasrallah’s remarks were a “clear and unacceptable interference in the internal affairs and an aggression on the independence and sovereignty of a member state in the Arab League.” Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil rejected the Arab League statement, saying Lebanese national unity was more important that Arab solidarity.
For its part, the Future bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned Nasrallah’s remarks. In a statement after its weekly meeting the bloc called on the government and the Foreign Ministry “to take a clear stance to address this violation.” “The Gulf Cooperation Council states have always provided aid and stood in solidarity with the Lebanese state and Army and have always backed the unity and stability of the Lebanese,” the statement said.
“Thus, its reward should not be an attempt to stir trouble in its countries. Hezbollah has insisted in recent years on interfering in the affairs of others, either with its arms like in Syria and Iraq or through the media and in speeches delivered by its secretary-general, the last of which targeted the kingdom of Bahrain,” the statement added.
