The recent assassination of many senior Hizbullah commanders in the context of the military escalation between Hizbullah and Israel has sparked gleeful responses in the Arab world on the part of Hizbullah opponents and victims.[1] At the same time, Hizbullah supporters have spoken out against the glee at Hizbullah’s plight.
Against this backdrop, Syrian journalist Rami Al-Khalifah Al-Ali wrote in his column in the Saudi daily Okaz that the Arab nations hate Hizbullah because it has carried out crimes and sown chaos in many Arab countries.
He wrote that as one of the key allies of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Hizbullah carried out “horrifying crimes” and “massacres” against unarmed Syrian civilians during the Syrian civil war, including: a brutal siege against civilians that prevented them from receiving food and medicine; the total destruction of entire cities; and the transfer of extremist operatives into Syrian territory. Al-Ali also wrote that in addition to Syria, Hizbullah has sown chaos in Lebanon and Yemen, has supported the Houthis in their war against Saudi Arabia, has killed innocent civilians, and has developed a large drug trafficking industry throughout the region. Al-Ali concluded that it is therefore not surprising that the Arabs hate Hizbullah.
Hizbullah fighters in Al-Qusayr, Syria. Source: An-Nahar (Lebanon), November 20, 2016.
The following is a translation of Al-Ali’s article:
“In the summer and fall of 2015, the residents of the Syrian city of Madaya were subject to the worst siege humanity has seen in the 21st century. This siege was a live example of the brutality and barbarity of the Hizbullah militias, which denied the residents of the city their most basic human rights by denying them food and medicine, leading to the death of many children, sick people, and elderly.[2]
“This siege was just one chapter of the crimes carried out by these militias against the Syrian people. Hizbullah’s crimes against the Syrians began in the Al-Qusayr region, where its militias carried out horrifying massacres, completely destroyed villages and towns, and expelled local residents after having turned the city to a sectarian crime scene.[3] Since then, these militias have not stopped employing violence and destruction: The damage they have done spreads from Deir Al-Zour in eastern [Syria] to Aleppo in the north, from Daraa in the south to Qalamun and the Syrian Desert, and even to Damascus and the surrounding area. The fact that Hizbullah’s violence was aimed not only against [Syrian opposition] fighters, but also against unarmed civilians, has increased the people’s hatred towards it.
“The Hizbullah militias were not satisfied with this. Rather, they worked to ease the movements of extremist groups [inside Syrian territory] and they transferred them in air-conditioned busses to territories controlled by ISIS in eastern Syria, by means of questionable deals. This underlines that Hizbullah’s hostility was first and foremost against the Syrian people and not against the military organizations [that were fighting against the Al-Assad regime].
“Instead of being ashamed of these brutal acts, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah continued to provoke the Syrians with his condescending statements, while underlining his readiness to send more of his fighters to Syria, as if killing civilians had become a goal in itself. Nasrallah has asserted that the path to Jerusalem passes through the Syrian cities that his militias destroyed…
“Hizbullah’s adventures did not end in Syria – rather, they spread to Yemen, to which it sent fighters to support the terrorist [Houthi] militias to fight against the Arab states, foremost of which was Saudi Arabia. These militias would not have been deterred from attacking Muslim holy sites were they not confronted by the Saudi military. The infuriating thing is that these actions are carried out in the name of Islam and the resistance, while the truth is that these militias target innocents wherever they go.
“Politics is naturally characterized by opposition, and political enmity can be a natural result of conflicting interests and differing stances, but when this turns into bloody attacks against civilians and innocents, it turns into limitless hostility and hatred. Hizbullah was not satisfied with being one side in a political conflict. Rather, it started killing civilians and sowing destruction in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen by injecting, trafficking, and manufacturing drugs and by overseeing criminal organizations, and this justifies the people’s hatred of it. Political enmity is something that can be discussed and solved, but what about enmity towards someone who has turned the killing of innocents and the total destruction of the homeland into a goal in itself? After all of this, people ask why the [Arab] nations hate Hizbullah’s terrorist militias.”[4]
[1] See also MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11568, Following Hizbullah Pager Explosions, Arabs On Social Media Slam The Organization And Celebrate Its Misfortune, September 18, 2024.
[2] See: MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1221, Local Ceasefire Agreements In Syria: Capitulation To Regime's Siege-And-Starvation Strategy Under UN Sponsorship, January 26, 2016; MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1226, Hizbullah Faces Criticism In Lebanon For Besieging Madaya: Its Starvation Of Syrians Recalls Past Crimes Of Mass Extermination In History, February 9, 2016.
[3] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1280, Together With Its Allies, The Syrian Regime Is Forcing Demographic Change In Areas Of The Country - For Self-Protection And Self-Preservation, November 15, 2016.
[4] Okaz (Saudi Arabia), September 25, 2024.
