The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon attacks Hezbollah, What is the party's response?

Walid Bukhari, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, accused the Lebanese Hezbollah group of "arranging the logic of the state," saying that "its political options have failed," while the party called on Saudi Arabia to stop what it described as "hegemony" over the Lebanese and "blatant interference" in their affairs.

Walid Bukhari, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, who is in his country, accused, on Wednesday, the Lebanese Hezbollah group of "arguing over the logic of the state," considering that its "political options have failed."

And in October 2021, Saudi Arabia summoned its ambassador to Lebanon for consultations in a crisis of statements by George Kordahi about the Yemen war before he took over the Ministry of Information, and the crisis still exists despite Qardahi’s resignation, last December 3.

Bukhari tweeted, through his documented account on Twitter, saying: "Jumping over the pain and hopes of the Lebanese people is nothing but an intentional denial of a painful truth caused by the taint of Hezbollah's terrorist arrogance over the logic of the state and the failure of its political options."

And he added in a second tweet: "There is no legitimacy for the discourse of sedition, division and fragmentation...there is no legitimacy for a discourse that jumps above the Arab identity of Lebanon."

On Wednesday, the Lebanese Hezbollah group called on Saudi Arabia to stop what it described as "hegemony" over the Lebanese and "blatant interference" in their affairs.

This came according to the head of the party's Executive Council, Hashem Safi al-Din, during a meeting organized by the party in the southern suburbs west of Beirut, entitled The Opposition in the Arabian Peninsula, on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the execution of Saudi dissident Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, which was reported by the organization's Al-Manar channel.

Al-Nimr, a Saudi Shiite cleric who led protests in eastern Saudi Arabia in the early 2000s, was executed by Riyadh along with 46 other people in January 2016 for accusing them of “igniting sectarian strife” or “belonging to terrorist organizations.”

Safi al-Din said: "Saudi Arabia must stop hegemony over the Lebanese, and stop interfering and imposing opinions and threats. This is blatant interference in the country."

He added, "What is required of it (Saudi Arabia) is not to interfere in the classification of the Lebanese and incite them against each other," he said.

Safi al-Din continued, "We say to the United States, Saudi Arabia and their thieves in Lebanon (he did not name them), that you did not know the strength of this resistance, as it is capable of achieving a sovereign, free and independent homeland without any dependence on the outside."

He expressed "the party's support and standing by the opposition in the Arabian Peninsula," wishing them a "dignified life because they deserve it."

These statements come in light of the recent high level of tension between Riyadh and the party, as Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz urged the Lebanese leaders in late December to "stop the terrorist hegemony of Hezbollah."

The statements of the Saudi king angered the party and prompted its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah to respond to them a few days later, by saying: "Saudi Arabia's problem in Lebanon is with those who defeated its project in the region and prevented the transformation of Lebanon into a Saudi emirate."

On more than one occasion, the Lebanese government said that "Hezbollah's statements do not represent its position," while Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi stressed on Tuesday that "Lebanon should not be a springboard for insulting any Arab country."