Lebanese General Blasts PGCC’s Statement against Hezbollah

“The PGCC’s statement (against Hezbollah) is as dangerous as the visit of the former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Israel for the solidarity of Arab countries,” Retired Lebanese Army General Hashem Jaber told FNA on Monday.

He said Saudi Arabia and Israel have hatched a plot to force the Lebanese government to take a stance against Hezbollah and exert pressure on the resistance movement.

In a relevant development on Wednesday, the six-member PGCC, which includes Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, labeled Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

On Thursday, the Syrian government strongly condemned the PGCC’s decision to include the Lebanon-based Shiite Hezbollah militant group in its terrorist organization list.

“Syria strongly condemns the decision of the  Persian Gulf Cooperation Council to consider the Hezbollah party a terrorist one, which is a reflection of the misguided policies of Saudi Arabia,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, the Syrian authorities will continue to consider Hezbollah “an Arab resistance movement” against such terrorist groups as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Daesh) and Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front).

Hezbollah, a paramilitary and political organization originating in Lebanon’s Shiite population, was established in the 1980s. The group has been fighting alongside the Syrian government against the ISIL terrorists and other extremist militant groups since 2011.

Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by a number of countries including Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom, but not by Russia, Iran and many other world states.