BEIRUT – In a pivotal development, Hezbollah Secretary Sheikh Naim Qassem urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to turn a “new page” in a resistance movement amid increasing Israeli aggression that is now spreading in Qatar.
On the first anniversary of the assassination of the Radwan Command leader, Qassem appealed, “everyone in Lebanon, even those who are almost hostile,” and “whether or not they are Israel’s servants.”
He warned that “the entire region is facing a very dangerous political turning point.” Israel escalated “crime and cruelty” and violated humanitarian, legal, international and human rights norms with “full support from the US administration.”
Qassem called on Saudi Arabia to “restore relations” and “open a new page with resistance.” He argued that the dialogue lies on the fact that Israel is not resistance, but the enemy, and past conflicts are set aside.
“The weapons of the resistance are aimed at Israel, not Lebanon, Saudi Arabia or other groups,” he warned, “thrustling resistance will only benefit Israel, and once resistance is gone, other countries will become the next country.”
He added, “What happens after the strike against Qatar is different from what happened before,” and called for a change in the outlook. Israel’s attack on Doha “exposed everything, revealed everything,” and warned that Israeli military adventures “inevitably continue on the same path.”
Qassem’s outreach does not represent a reassessment of Saudi Arabia’s actions in Lebanon and the region. Instead, it reflects rebirth. It encourages Saudi Arabia to redraw regional balances through Islam and Arab unity, to curb conflict and to encourage internal Lebanese dialogue as the best path to overcome divisions.
In encouraging rational discourse on conflict and understanding of fatigue, Sheikh Naim Qassem has already recognized Saudi Arabia, conditioning on the shared premise that “Israel” is the enemy.
As regional capitals recognize that decline in resistance will become vulnerable to Israeli strikes, this step could, if embraced, launch a new political phase in Lebanon and the wider regions, and could condemn those who simply insist on caring for the people.
Sheikh Qassem’s speech leads to the strategic tenor of the important speech provided by the late Sayeed Nasrallah.