BEIRUT: Hezbollah censured the U.N. Security Council decision to impose an arms embargo on Yemen’s Houthis Thursday, comparing the Saudi-led military campaign to the Israeli wars on Gaza.
“What Saudi Arabia is committing [in Yemen] is identical to what Israel commits in Gaza,” Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told France 24 in an interview Thursday. “It is about attacking infrastructure and shelling civilians.”
The Hezbollah no. 2 said it was time for Saudi Arabia to “learn” and push for a political solution through national dialogue in Yemen.
The Security Council resolution adopted Wednesday imposes an arms embargo on the Houthi rebels and calls on them to withdraw from areas they had seized, including the capital Sanaa.
It was adopted after 14 countries voted yes with one abstention from Russia, which said the embargo should target the whole country.
“The Security Council decision in Yemen is unjust, because it looks at one part of the problem, and not at the whole [picture],” Qassem said. “The Security Council should have stopped the Saudi aggression against Yemen and treated the issues related to the civilians and wounded and destruction of infrastructure.”
“It was supposed to set the steps for a dialogue to reach a political solution. This, the Security Council has not done.”
Hezbollah’s parliamentary group, the Loyalty to Resistance bloc, also denounced the U.N. decision in its weekly statement Thursday.
“The catastrophic results and consequences on the stability of Yemen and the region have confirmed that the Saudi regime’s aggression against Yemen is a historic and strategic sin,” the statement said. “No unfair international decision could erase this fact or end the severe crisis in Yemen, even if issued under the 7th article.”
Qassem, who accused Saudi Arabia of committing genocide in Yemen, also sent an indirect message to Future Movement officials, referring to them as “the voices that act harshly and condemn our stand on Saudi aggression.”
“We understand that these voices have to take this stance because of their monthly budgets and their affiliation and relationship with Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Tensions had simmered between Hezbollah and the Future Movement recently, but Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was able to prevent a collapse to the ongoing dialogue between the two parties, which he sponsors.
The two groups are in strong disagreement over the Saudi-led military campaign. Future defends it as necessary to stop the expansion of Iran’s influence in the region.
No comments:
Post a Comment