In the process of helping President Bashar Assad recapture the town of al-Qusayr, Iranian-backed Hezbollah has attracted the anger of Arabs including the leaders of the Gulf states, prominent Sunni sheikhs and commentators, and radical jihadists, including those affiliated with al-Qaeda. Al-Qusayr fell to Hezbollah-backed Syrian forces on Wednesday after weeks of fierce fighting. The town near the Lebanese border had been controlled by rebels for more than a year. Amid celebrations in Hezbollah’s support base in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem hailed the outcome as a victory over the “America-Israeli scheme.”
The picture looked very different in the Gulf, however, where the governments of the six Gulf states early this week agreed to blacklist Hezbollah and take measures against it. Bahrain’s foreign minister told reporters that all six countries – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait – “are convinced that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.” Both within and beyond Syria’s borders, the conflict is both spotlighting and evidently widening the Sunni-Shi’ite divide that dates back to a succession rift after the death of Mohammed in the seventh century. Hezbollah and its patron, Iran, are Shi’ite and Assad belongs to the Alawite sect of Shi’ite Islam. U.S. officials said Iranian and Iraqi Shi’ites were also involved in the fighting in al-Qusayr.
Arrayed against the Assad regime and its Shi’ite allies are mostly Sunni rebel groups, among them Salafist jihadists including the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front. The opposition is supported by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – all Sunni countries. In a speech almost two weeks ago, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah lashed out against jihadists including al-Qaeda, whom he said were “dominating” the anti-Assad opposition. Jihadists subsequently answered the challenge. A leader of the Jordanian Salafist movement, Mohammed Shalabi, told the al-Hayat newspaper this week that fighting Hezbollah was now a top priority for his group, which he characterized as closely allied to the al-Nusra Front. A group of Egyptian Sunni radicals, including the brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, also issued a call for Sunnis everywhere to take up arms against Hezbollah and its allies.
Last weekend prominent Sunni scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi – a Qatar-based Egyptian who is president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars and regarded as the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader – said every Muslim trained and capable of fighting should make himself available for jihad against Assad and Hezbollah. Addressing a rally in Doha, Qaradawi raised the sectarian rhetoric to a new level by labeling Hezbollah (which means Party of Allah), the “Party of Satan.” “The leader of the party of Satan comes to fight the Sunnis,” he was quoted as saying, adding that Iran wants “continued massacres to kill Sunnis.” “Iran is pushing forward arms and men, so why do we stand idle?”
MORE
