Bahrain: Hezbollah remarks will hurt ties with Lebanon

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Bahrain condemned on Sunday Hezbollah’s criticism of its government, describing it as an intervention in the Gulf country’s internal affairs and held the Lebanese government responsible saying the statements would have a negative impact on the Lebanese-Bahraini bilateral ties.

A statement released by the The Bahraini Foreign Ministry said Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s verbal “assault against Bahrain and its people” was aimed at serving foreign interests, a reference to Iran, the party’s major ally.

The statement described Nasrallah as the “representative of a terrorist organization with a known history in destabilizing security in the region,” and added that Bahrain would remain stable while Nasrallah’s “terrorist remarks” would fail to provoke the Bahraini people.

During a televised speech via video link on Saturday evening Nasrallah called the events in Bahrain a “special injustice”. Nasrallah asked whether Arab silence about the repression of protests there is due to sectarian prejudice against the Shiite-majority opposition.

“I ask some in the Arab and Islamic worlds: Why have you remained mum over the tyranny against our people in Bahrain, is it only because they are Shiites?”

He also said Hezbollah is ready to help

Special training

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa warned senior US military figures that opposition groups in Bahrain were receiving training from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

He also told senior American military official that Syria was “complicit” in the training by providing the Bahrainis with false passports.

The claims were reported in a leaked embassy cable sent by US diplomats in Bahrain to Washington.

King Hamad made the claim in a 90 minute meeting on 30 July 2008 with General David Petraeus who at the time was commander of the allied forces in Iraq.

King Hamad asked Gen Petraeus: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

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