Hezbollah Blames Saudi Arabia for Spread of Extremism

The chief of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah blamed Saudi Arabia Friday for the spread of extremism in the region. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah addressed, through a live televised broadcast from a undisclosed location, a group of supporters gathered at Dahieh, the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut as he criticized Saudi Arabia for its airstrikes in Yemen.

In his speech, Nasrallah lashed out against the Saudi government’s ultraconservative legal system that is based on the extreme Wahhabi Muslim school of thought which the Islamic State group and other extreme groups in Iraq and Syria follow.

"Who is teaching this ideology in elementary, secondary and high schools and universities?" he asked, and added that "[t]ime has come for Muslims, Arabs and the Muslim world to tell the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: 'Enough."

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This address marked the third speech for Nasrallah this month. For safety concerns, he has not been seen in public since his movement got involved in the fighting in Syria three years ago in order to stop the advance of the Sunni extremist groups there towards Lebanon.

Nasrallah also spoke in length about the Yemeni crisis during his address. He called on the Muslim world to pressure the Saudis and their allies to end the attacks on Yemen, which started about three weeks ago, and make way for a peaceful solution. However, he warned that a solution should not include Western-backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who the Houthi forced out of the country last month.

Saudis see Hadi as the only legitimate president and say that the objective of their operation in Yemen is to restore him to power.

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