Qaouq: Saudi Money Can Buy Nations and Presidents but Not Hizbullah Silence
Hizbullah lashed out anew at Saudi Arabia on Sunday over its Arab-backed airstrikes against Yemen's Huthi rebels.
“Those who are waging an aggression against Yemen today have also mistaken their calculations and approach towards Hizbullah,” said Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of Hizbullah's Executive Council.
“They were betting on our silence and on neutralizing us, but they failed to realize that we do not fear threats and that we cannot be sold or bought,” Qaouq added.
He noted that “Saudi money” can buy “countries, the U.N. Security Council, presidents, princes and ministers” but “cannot purchase Hizbullah's silence.”
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other party officials have been locked in a war of words with Saudi Arabia over the military operation in Yemen.
The tensions flared up after Riyadh began airstrikes against Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels. The air campaign, launched in late March, is aimed at defeating the rebels and restoring power to President Abderabbo Mansour Hadi.
“Saudi Arabia can threaten figures, dignitaries, scholars and Arab countries, but it cannot threaten the resistance,” Qaouq went on to say.
“Their problem with us is that we cannot be bought or sold and we do not fear intimidation. It also lies in the growing role, status and influence of Hizbullah in the region's equations,” he added.
“Another problem with us is that what they fear the most in the Arab world are the words, speeches and surprises of the Sayyed of the resistance -- Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” Qaouq noted.
Y.R.
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