Gulf states pledge sanctions against Hezbollah members

Reuters/Dubai

Gulf Arab states yesterday promised sanctions against members of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah in retaliation for its intervention in Syria’s civil war in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Arab League last week had strongly condemned Hezbollah’s intervention, highlighting how Syria’s war is widening sectarian divisions in the region.

The six members of the Gulf Co-operation Council issued a similar condemnation on Monday, according to a statement from the GCC secretariat carried by the Saudi Press Agency yesterday.

“The GCC ministerial council has decided to take measures against those enlisted in the party (Hezbollah) residing in the member states, whether with regard to their residencies or their financial and commercial dealings,” it added.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s most senior Muslim cleric has condemned Shias for engaging in “hateful sectarian strife” in Syria.

Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb condemned the Hezbollah group for turning away from its struggle against Israel.

Hezbollah fighters helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces retake the strategic town of Qusayr near Homs on the Lebanese border last week.

“Syria is nothing but a theatre of the absurd in this battle which has become a Shia-Sunni struggle,” Tayeb, who heads Cairo’s 1,000-year-old Al-Azhar academy, said.

“We would have wished that the Shias would reject this bait, but the last few days have led one to believe that they have fallen into the trap of hateful sectarian strife.”

 “Everyone has now become busy, looking away from the Zionist entity, and especially after Hezbollah joined in the fighting alongside the regime against the Syrian people,” said Tayeb, who has previously criticised Hezbollah but in less harsh terms.

“Liberating Jerusalem does not pass through Qusayr or Homs; Al-Azhar can do nothing but condemn this intervention, which contributes to yet more bloodshed and the tearing apart of the national fabric of Syria and the region.”