Saudi Arabia shifts strategy to “regional war of terror” after US abandons Syria War

Nasrallah links Saudi Arabia to Iran embassy attack
NOW – 3 December, 2013

BEIRUT – Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday linked Saudi Arabia to the November 19 bombings that targeted the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

“We believe the Abdallah Azzam Brigades’ claim of responsibility for the attack, and it is my belief they are under the administration of Saudi intelligence,” he told OTV in an interview.

Nasrallah also purported a Saudi motive in the attack, saying that Riyadh “holds Iran responsible for the failure of its projects in the region.”

The Al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings outside the Iranian embassy hours after the attack and warned it would strike again in Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia denounced the bombings that left 23 people dead outside the Iranian embassy, while pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akbhar on November 20 blamed Riyadh for the attack.

The bombing came days after the Syrian regime and Hezbollah troops launched an offensive against rebels in Syria’s mountainous Qalamoun region along the Lebanese border.

The fighting sparked a mass exodus of Syrian refugees into Lebanon’s Beqaa and raised fears of a spillover of fighting into Lebanon.

However, Nasrallah insisted in his interview with OTV that his party was safeguarding the country from terror attacks originating in Qalamoun.

“If militants take control of border areas with Lebanon, we would be prone to dozens of car bomb attacks.”

The Hezbollah chief alleged that “three car bombs were found in [Qalamoun’s] Nabak that were rigged to be sent to Lebanon.”

He also said that “the car bombs that exploded in Lebanon came into the country from [Qalamoun’s] Yabrud and Nabak through [the northern Beqaa’s] Arsal and its outskirts.”

“If Hezbollah did not fight in Syria, there would have been a civil war in Lebanon and hundreds of car bombs,” Nasrallah added.

However, he told OTV that his Shiite party had a “minimal” role in the fighting in the Qalamoun region, adding that the regime was bearing the brunt of the fighting.

Nasrallah also hailed the interim nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 world powers in Geneva on November 24.

He said the “region’s people are the biggest winners from the deal” because it forestalls any military action against Iran.

“Israel cannot possibly bomb nuclear facilities without a US green light.”

The Hezbollah chief delved into the regional ramifications of the deal, saying that “it is too early for Iran to head toward normalization with the US.”