The head of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has accused Saudi Arabia of blocking a political solution to the conflict in Syria, AFP reports.
Speaking on Monday on a large screen set up in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Nasrallah said the Gulf kingdom was “furious because the situation in Syria has not worked out in its favor.”
Saudi Arabia has been a key backer of rebel groups fighting to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad since March 2011.
“Today, political dialogue and the search for a political solution are enjoying international, regional and interior support … but there is a state in the region which is furious (about the proposed Geneva II peace conference), and its name is Saudi Arabia,” Nasrallah charged.
Relations between Washington and Riyadh have reportedly been strained since the U.S. backed away from military action against Assad over alleged chemical weapons attacks in August.
Ties have worsened further between the two allies over Washington’s recent engagement with Iran, who is Saudi Arabia’s arch-foe in the region.
Nasrallah said that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom had sent foreign fighters, weapons and money to back Syrian rebels fighting the government in Damascus to bring about Assad’s fall.
“But it didn’t work,” said Nasrallah, adding, “The region cannot be torn apart by war because a state is furious and is trying to hinder any political dialogue and push back Geneva II.”
“Their obstinacy is pointless,” he added, according to AFP.
Hezbollah has admitted sending soldiers to Syria, at first claiming it seeks to protect sacred Shiite religious sites against potential attacks by the Sunni rebels.
The group helped the Syrian regime’s army retake the town of Al-Qusayr, which borders Lebanon, in May 2013, killing hundreds.
Nasrallah has promised that his group will be wherever is needed in Syria and has even declared he was willing to go fight in Syria himself.
Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria has caused sectarian clashes in Lebanon. Rocket and bomb attacks have hit Hezbollah strongholds in the Bekaa Valley and in the capital.