Qaouq: Saudi Can't Change Lebanese Army Identity or Buy Dignity of Lebanese

A top Hizbullah official stressed Sunday that Saudi Arabia cannot “change the identity of the Lebanese army” or “buy the will and dignity of the Lebanese,” three days after Riyadh said it was halting $3 billion in military aid to Lebanon over "hostile" diplomatic positions it said were inspired by Hizbullah.

“Nowadays, Saudi Arabia's arms are in the hands of the takfiri gangs in Syria and these weapons have started to pose a real threat to Lebanon's stability,” said Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of Hizbullah's Executive Council.

“How can the Saudi arms quickly find their way to the hands of the tafkiri gangs in Syria without finding their way to support the Lebanese army?” he asked.

“Had the Lebanese army bowed to Saudi Arabia's will on fighting the resistance (Hizbullah), it would have received the Saudi weapons very quickly,” Qaouq charged.

On Friday, an unnamed Saudi official told the Saudi Press Agency that in light of positions taken by Hizbullah, the kingdom proceeded to "a comprehensive review of its relations with the Lebanese republic."

The Saudi official also said Lebanon had not joined condemnation of the attacks on its diplomatic missions in Iran, either at the Arab League or the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. He also deplored the "political and media campaigns inspired by Hizbullah against Saudi Arabia," as well as what he called the group's "terrorist acts against Arab and Muslim nations."

Qaouq hit back on Sunday, underlining that “the Saudi regime can purchase the wills and decisions of major capitals in the world through its money and influence, but it cannot change the identity of the Lebanese army or the identity and role of Lebanon.”

“It cannot buy the will or the dignity of the Lebanese,” he added.

“They want to blackmail the Lebanese decision, seeing as the Saudi grant had died with the death of the king (Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz), and this has been officially documented,” Qaouq alleged.

He claimed that the kingdom had “officially informed France” of the cancellation of the military grant to the Lebanese army in the wake of the monarch's death.

“But today they are trying to use this card to blackmail the Lebanese and punish a Lebanese group. In response, we tell the Saudi regime and all its tools in Lebanon that we are not people who bargain over their dignity and that we cannot be bought or sold,” Qaouq added.

“We do not kneel at the doors of kings, because our dignity is precious,” he went on to say.

Saudi Arabia's decision has brought widespread condemnation from the March 14 alliance against Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement, whose leader is Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.

The Hizbullah official also noted that Lebanon does not need the Saudi weapons in order to protect itself from the “takfiri aggression.”

“Through the cooperation of the army and the resistance, Lebanon today is firmly immunized in the face of any Israeli or takfiri aggression, and the battlefields and Arsal's outskirts prove that this equation has achieved what the U.S.-led international coalition has failed to do,” Qaouq added.

“We will not give up our responsibilities towards our people and country, regardless of the political, media and economic pressures on Hizbullah by the U.S., Saudi Arabia and some Gulf states, which are trying to make us change our stance on Syria,” he said.

Y.R.