Qatar FM Accuses Hizbullah of Killing, Displacing Syrians
Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah lashed out at Hizbullah on Thursday, stressing that the Gulf state is in a rift with the party.
“Hizbullah went back to the Syrians who welcomed it (in July 2006 war with Israel) to kill and displace them,” al-Attiyah said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.
The Foreign Minister ruled out any aid offered by Qatar to Hizbullah, saying: “We disagree with the party.”
Al-Attiyah pointed out that Hizbullah was a “party of resistance until it changed its direction and headed to Syria.”
“We were surprised that Hizbullah (supported the regime of President Bashar Assad) at the beginning of the Syrian revolution and rewarded those who welcomed it with slaughtering and displacing them,” he added.
“This is the core of our differences,” al-Attiyah stressed.
In July, the Gulf Cooperation Council — which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE — has said the bloc would crack down on Hizbullah members as part of a joint effort to limit the group's "financial and business transactions."
In September, undersecretaries of the GCC's interior ministries discussed possible measures against suspected Hizbullah members living in the Gulf.
The GCC's measures come in response to Hizbullah's intervention in the Syrian war alongside Assad's forces. The majority of Gulf countries back the rebels who are trying to topple the Syrian leader.
There are more than half a million Lebanese working in the Gulf states, including tens of thousands in Saudi Arabia. Many are Shiites.
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