Today, Thursday, Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah Sheikh Naim Qassem said, "Recently, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz announced an unjust stance against Hezbollah, deeming the organization terrorist, as Saudi Arabia has been classifying it for years."

Sheikh Qassem, in his speech in South Lebanon, during the second anniversary marking the martyrdom of the two leaders, Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, said that "this description at this particular time and from the King of Saudi Arabia bears bad connotations, especially since the description is directed toward heroic fighters who sacrificed their blood, as both men and women sacrificed themselves for the liberation of the land, for Palestine, and for the dignity of the ummah." 

Qassem contended that "this accusation against a wide segment of Lebanese society, against an effective and influential resistance group in the region, a deterrent of suspicious plots, is to incite the Lebanese against each other to stir up tension between them and to incite the people against the resistance that has a major role in the renaissance of Lebanon and its liberation."

"They say that Lebanon must be Arab, and we tell them that we believe in the Arabness of Lebanon." He asked: "Yemen is Arab and Saudi Arabia is Arab, and if we support Yemen, that means we support an Arab country, and if we are ever to support Saudi Arabia, how can we do so when it is attacking the other Arab country?"

He stressed that "Hezbollah must support those who are attacked, those who bear the right, those who offer martyrs, and those whose country is being destroyed by the hand of an Arab and an international tool that is trying to change the balance of power in the region."

Qassem stressed that “a terrorist is the one who kills dissenting opinions in his country, attacks his neighbors in Yemen, and normalizes with Israel using various deceptive methods."

Sheikh Qassem clarified that “freedom of opinion and expression is clear in the constitution under Article 13, and it is guaranteed as per the law.”

He stressed that "our response to Saudi Arabia will be decisive."

He addressed Saudi Arabia, saying, "You, yourselves, are terrorism, and we are the resistance, and we will not take your harm without responding to you armed with facts and logic."

Last Monday, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said in a speech on the anniversary of Soleimani's martyrdom, "We did not assault Saudi Arabia, nor did we attack it. Rather, it was an actor in the global war on the region, and we had the honor of fighting the organizations that Saudi Arabia brought," saying that "the terrorist is the one who sent thousands of Saudi takfiris to Syria and Iraq."

Election alliance with the FPM

Sheikh Qassem revealed that there is an understanding with the Free Patriotic Movement,  headed by the Gebran Bassil, saying, "We have allies in Lebanon, and we reached an understanding with the Free Patriotic Movement, and the reason for this understanding is that there are strategic and domestic issues and we found that there is an overlap of convictions and opinions."

He stressed, "We will be with the Free Patriotic Movement in the parliamentary elections... and we have started holding meetings at all levels in order to prepare for the parliamentary elections."

He also pointed out that "the future electoral scene will be similar to the previous ones with regard to the alliances we made with everyone. Hezbollah will naturally cooperate with its allies in the parliamentary elections."

The Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah also stressed that "Hezbollah's relationship with the Amal movement is a stable and solid strategic relationship, stressing, "We are working together to preserve Lebanon as a sovereign, independent nation away from foreigners and to prevent naturalization and deter normalization with Israel."