Saudi Arabia behind terrorism in Mideast: Nasrallah

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says Saudi Arabia is arming and funding Takfiri terrorist groups in the Middle East.

The leader of the Lebanese resistance movement made the remarks late on Sunday in a televised speech given during a ceremony in southern Beirut to commemorate the martyrdom of resistance commanders.

Nasrallah stated that the Saudi-backed Takfiri groups were bent on sowing the seeds of sectarian discord in the entire region.

Takfiri people believe they are the only true Muslims and accuse other Muslims of apostasy.

He described the al-Qaeda-linked groups, the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as the best examples of the Saudi-backed Takfiri mindset.

Elsewhere in his speech, Nasrallah said that Saudi authorities have launched a campaign of recruiting and dispatching young men to Syria to fight against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Warning against the foreign meddling in Syria, Nasrallah said that the Syrian people themselves should decide the fate of the country.

A British defense study shows that about 100,000 foreign-backed militants, fragmented into 1,000 groups, are fighting in Syria against the government and people.

The extracts of the study by defense consultancy IHS Jane’s were published on September 16 in The Daily Telegraph.

IHS Jane’s estimates that some 10,000 militants are fighting for groups affiliated with al-Qaeda such as al-Nusra Front and the rest fight for different militant groups.

The analysis also said that a large number of extremists from foreign countries are active in Syria.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

Some sources say more than 130,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the violence in the country.