by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Gulf Cooperation Council says it has decided to "take measures" against Hezbollah members, "whether with regard to their residencies or their financial and commercial dealings."
Members of Hezbollah outside
of Lebanon may soon begin to feel the consequences of their group's
intervention in Syria
|
Photo credit: Reuters |
Gulf Arab states on Monday promised sanctions
against members of the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah in
retaliation for its intervention in Syria's civil war in support of
Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Both Sunni and Shiite Arab states have long
backed Hezbollah as a bulwark against Israel, but the Arab League,
heavily influenced by Sunni-led Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, last week
strongly condemned Hezbollah's intervention, highlighting how Syria's
war is widening sectarian divisions in the region.
The six Sunni-led members of the Gulf
Cooperation Council issued a similar condemnation on Monday, according
to a statement from the GCC secretariat carried by the Saudi Press
Agency.
"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 said, without giving any specific
details.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both GCC members and
U.S. allies, have been explicit in calling for Assad to go, and have
been helping to arm the mostly Sunni rebels seeking to oust him and his
mostly Alawite establishment, members of an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
But the rebels suffered one of their biggest
setbacks last week when Hezbollah fighters helped Assad's forces to
retake the Syrian border town of Qusair, which controls vital supply
lines.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said last
week that Syria and Lebanon faced a common threat from radical Sunni
Islamists. Nasrallah became a hero in the Arab world after his forces
helped to push Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000, and
then confronted Israel in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
But Hezbollah's increasing involvement in Syria has
turned many against his group. GCC member Bahrain has called Nasrallah a
terrorist and banned its citizens from having any contact with the
group.
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=9895
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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