Hezbollah has been battered by Israel militarily over the last year. Its top leaders — Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Hashem Safiedinne — have both been assassinated by Israel. The IDF has managed through airstrikes to destroy between 80% and 90% of the 150,000 rockets and missiles that Hezbollah held in its arsenal. Mossad’s “exploding pagers” caper led to nearly 4,000 Hezbollah members being seriously wounded, in most cases so severely as not to be able to resume their roles as combatants. And in Lebanon itself, both President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam are determined to pressure Hezbollah to give up its weapons, so that the Lebanese National Army will be the only armed force in the country.
Now Hezbollah has made overtures to Saudi Arabia, hoping to bury the hatchet with the Sunni Arab state that Shi’a Iran has long regarded as an arch-enemy. Since the Sunnis and Shi’a have been at each other’s throats since the seventh century, any such rapprochement will be a tall order.
More on the leader of Hezbollah’s plea can be found here: “Hezbollah chief calls on Saudi Arabia to turn ‘new page, open dialogue with the group,” Reuters, September 19, 2025:
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem called on Saudi Arabia to turn “a new page” with the Iran-backed group and set aside past disputes to create a unified front against Israel, following years of hostility that strained Riyadh’s ties with Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states designated Shi’ite Hezbollah a terrorist organization in 2016. In recent months, Riyadh has joined Washington and Hezbollah’s rivals within Lebanon in pressuring the Lebanese government to disarm the group, which was badly weakened by last year’s war with Israel.
The Saudis are not about to grant Naim Qassem’s request, made out of desperation, for the kingdom to join Hezbollah in a “united front” against Israel. The Saudis know that Israel has no designs on their country. But Shi’a Iran would like to become the leader of the Muslim world, and Hezbollah is Iran’s most important ally. In Yemen, it supports the Shi’a Houthis who have been fighting the Sunni national government; the Saudis in the past gave not only money and weapons to the Yemeni Sunnis, but sent their own troops and planes to fight the Houthis. In the civil war, the Saudis supported he Sunni rebels who were fighting Bashar Assad, a member of the Alawite sect that is considered to be a branch of Shi’a Islam. Shi’a Iran supported Assad to the hilt in his attempt to crush the Sunni rebels in Syria. The Sunni state of Saudi Arabia provided extensive support to the rebels in the Syrian civil war, supplying them with large quantities of weapons, funding, and training. Driven primarily by its rivalry with Iran and its desire to topple the Assad regime, Saudi Arabia was one of the largest foreign backers of the Syrian opposition. And while Iran supplied weapons and money, it was Hezbollah, not Iran, that supplied combatants to support Assad.
In Lebanon, the Saudis have been adamantly opposed to Hezbollah since its inception. It was a group of Hezbollah agents, led by Salim Ayyash, who were convicted of the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Hariri had close ties to the Saudi royal family, and the Saudi rulers were enraged at Hezbollah for killing him.
In a televised address on Friday, Qassem said that regional powers should see Israel, not Hezbollah, as the main threat to the Middle East and proposed “mending relations” with Riyadh.
“We assure you that the arms of the resistance (Hezbollah) are pointed at the Israeli enemy, not Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, or any other place or entity in the world,” Qassem said.
So Hezbollah’s assistance to Bashir Assad in the Syrian civil war had nothing to do with the terror group’s desire to crush his Sunni opponents, who were backed by Saudi Arabia, but was actually “pointed at the Israeli enemy”? And Hezbollah’s military dominance of Lebanon, and its attacks on Lebanese Sunnis, was really “pointed at the Israeli enemy”? Does this clown really expect the Saudis to believe what he says?
He said dialog would “freeze the disagreements of the past, at least in this exceptional phase, so that we can confront Israel and curb it,” and said that pressuring Hezbollah “is a net gain for Israel.”‘
Pressuring Hezbollah is also “a net gain” for the people of Lebanon, not just Sunnis and Christians, but also some anti-Hezbollah Shia, who have endured the terror group’s ruthless dominance for the last two decades.
Hezbollah’s then-secretary general Hassan Nasrallah [in 2021] called Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman a “terrorist” and repeatedly criticized Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen.
But recent months have seen seismic political shifts in the region, with Israel pummeling Hezbollah last year and killing Nasrallah, and rebels toppling the group’s Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad, in December.
Those “seismic shifts” have only made Hezbollah much weaker. Israel has destroyed almost all — 80-90% — of its arsenal of weapons. Its “exploding pagers” have caused 4,000 Hezbollah combatants to be severely wounded. And now, the Sunni victory in the Syrian civil war has cut off Iran’s former land route that allowed it to deliver weapons to Hezbollah.
Many Sunnis regard the Shia as “Rafidite dogs” Rafidite means “those who reject,” that is, the first three caliphs after Muhammad, whom the Shi’ites consider illegitimate. In Sunni eyes, this makes Shi’a practically Infidels, and in the opinion of some Sunni imams, the Shi’a are even “worse” than other Infidels. For nearly 1400 years, Sunnis have been persecuting Shi’a. The Shia Houthis in Yemen have seized territory from the Sunni national government; Iran backs the Houthis with weapons and money while Saudi Arabia has not just sent weapons to the Sunni majority in Yemen to fight the Houthis, but for a time also sent its own planes and troops as well.
Hezbollah is now on the ropes. The Lebanese government, strengthened by deliveries of American aid earlier this year, feels it is now strong enough to take on a greatly-weakened Hezbollah. It’s understandable that Naim Qassem, the current Hezbollah leader, would make a desperate appeal for Saudi Arabia to end its hostility and come to its aid. But he’s whistling in the dark. In Riyadh, they are delighted that their arch-enemy Hezbollah is about to meet its comeuppance at the hands of fellow Lebanese.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I think it would be a toss-up on whether the Saudis would hate Jews more than the Twelver shi’as, which Hizbullah is. The current leadership though – I don’t think they’d prefer the shi’a to the Jews. The “me vs my brother, me + brother vs cousin, me + brother + cousin against enemy” – won’t apply here the way it does to Hamas. Which also the Saudis hate, since they’re opposed to the muslim brotherhood and have their own muslim world vision
Luchtpint says
Wahhabis placating Twelver Shi’ites ? I don’t think so.
Remember what happened in the early 19th century.
1) Multiple Wahhabi raids directed at the sacred Shia city of Najaf, with the intent to destroy shrines the Wahhabis deemed bid’ah. (1801-1811)
2) The Wahhabis also sacked Karbala, leaving thousands of dead inhabitants in their wake. As a consequence, the Shi’ites exacted revenge by killing Saudi ruler Abd al-Azeez. (1802)
There’s no love lost between them since the advent of Islam. People in the ME have a long memory.
abu taleb says
The Jews or the Shias, who the Sunni hates the most? Tough call.
(just a mockery on how muslims hate each other, there is no honor among thieves)
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Some, like Hamas, have no problems allying w/ the shi’a, but the general Arab sunni population – a big no. Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh would have fewer problems doing it
Luchtpint says
Hamas doesn’t have a problem with allying with the shi’a, because that’s all down to the ancient geopolitical “wisdom” of making friends with the enemy of your enemy.
The truth of the matter is that no Sunni nation will make alliances with the MB, because the MB postures as a revolutionary populist movement. (which is not suggesting that they effectively are a populist movement)
Governments like that of Egypt or Saudi Arabia and Jordan and the like full well realize that the MB has the potential to disrupt their established order by claiming such a thing.
Simple logic, based on historical fact.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Not quite true: Qatar and Turkey definitely have alliances w/ the muslim brotherhood, and so do some parties in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Afghanistan, the Taliban used to have an alliance w/ al Qaeda, but after 20 years of US occupation, one lesson they seem to have learnt after returning to power is to not allow Afghanistan to be used as a base by any foreign jihadists, and that way, give everyone else a good enough reason to avoid them while they continue undoing all the changed made by the Karzai regime and the Bush nation-builders
muslim brotherhood has several chapters – Hamas is its Palestinian chapter, al Qaeda is its subsidiary company previously in Afghanistan, now in Yemen as AQAP, part of HTS in Syria, and active in countries like Mali and surrounding Saharan countries. There are quite a few sunni countries that they are capable of taking over, even if we ignore other non-mb jihadist groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, al Shabab,…..
Luchtpint says
I rather remain sceptical with regards to Erdogan’s so-called alliance with the MB. At this point, an alliance serves the Ottoman designs on the region quite neatly, particularly when the enmity of both towards Israel is concerned. But IMO, the same old logic applies there. Hamas may want to act like useful idiots for the moment, but it will not last.
Arabs perpetually serving (neo-) Ottoman Turks ? Totally out of the question, I believe.
In the region, this leaves us with squeaky little Qatar ! And then there’s me thinking “So what the heck ?”
That some parties within Bangladesh or Pakistan keep squealing about Palestine doesn’t mean a great deal in my book.
Same thing applies to the Taliban. I seem to remember having read somewhere that the Wahhabi-infested intelligence service of Pakistan and that of Saudi Arabia didn’t hold the Taliban (or even any Pathan or Afghan national, for that matter) in high esteem, even when they helped the mujahideen to do battle with the Soviets.
A lot of this has something to do with the fact that Afghan Sunni Islam is traditionally highly influenced by Sufi ‘hybridization’. Which is certainly not to the liking of Wahhabi Arabs !
Never underestimate the influence of internecine strife within Islam plus the ethnic divisions at play.
Billy says
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the 50+ Islamic Countries are Terrorist States of discrimination, violence, and terrorism against Christians, Jews, and ALL Non-Muslims as taught in Islamic Law and in Islam’s Quran(Quran 5:51; 9:5, 29, 111, etc.). Allah in Quran 4:101 says, “…Surely the infidels(Non-Muslims) were your clear enemies.”
Allah’s cursed Islam, a CRIMINAL-TERRORIST ENTERPRISE and a MURDEROUS-DEMONIC CULT OF BELIEVERS, Terrorist Muslim Soldiers for Allah, continually fund, promote, and practice ideological subversion, propaganda, bigotry, discrimination, deceit, industrial-scale slavery, human trafficking, intimidation, supremacy, segregation, hatred, incitement to violence, criminality, genocide, victimhood, censorship, and terrorism as taught in Islamic Law, Sharia, and in Islam’s Quran(Quran 5:14,35; 8:60; 9:41, 88, etc.). Allah in Qur’an 49:15 says, “Surely the believers[Muslims] are only those who believed in Allah and his messenger. They do not doubt, and they performed jihad with their MONEY and their LIVES for the sake of Allah. Those are the truthful.”
OLD GUY says
The question is do they hate each other and want to murder each other more than they as a whole want to murder Israel and the Jewish people? I don’t trust Saudi Arabia or Qatar they both support Jihad against non-Muslims.