This content was published on Mar 10, 2023 – Jul 18:34,
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BEIRUT (Archyde.com) – The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said on Friday that the resumption of relations between Iran, which supports his group, and Saudi Arabia was a “good turnaround”.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to resume relations following years of hostility that threatened stability in the Gulf region and sparked political differences in Lebanon.
Nasrallah said in a televised speech, “This is a good transformation… and it will not be at the expense of the peoples of the region, but rather in the interest of the peoples of the region, and we are absolutely confident that this will not be at our expense.”
Nasrallah warned that the full results of the move were still unknown, but said, “We are happy.”
He added, “It is certainly an important development if it follows its normal course. This, of course, can open horizons in the entire region, including in Lebanon.”
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard founded Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and is an essential part of the regional alliance loyal to Tehran.
Nasrallah last year accused the Saudi monarch of terrorism in the midst of one of the biggest political crises between the kingdom and Lebanon. For its part, Saudi Arabia called on Lebanon to end the influence of “terrorist Hezbollah” on it.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries in the Gulf region withdrew their ambassadors from Lebanon and expelled their Lebanese envoys in late 2021 because of what the kingdom later described as Hezbollah’s domination of the Lebanese state.
The Ambassadors then return in the spring of 2022.
Nasrallah said on Friday his party was also happy to increase Arab contact with the Syrian government in the followingmath of the devastating Feb. 6 earthquake that killed thousands in neighboring Syria.
Syria faced great isolation from the Arab world in the wake of its crackdown on protests more than a decade ago, but support from Arab countries poured in on President Bashar al-Assad in the followingmath of the earthquakes.
(Covering by Laila Bassam – Prepared by Doaa Mohamed and Noha Zakaria for the Arabic Bulletin – Edited by Mahmoud Abdel-Gawad)
