Gulf States Pledge Sanctions against Hezbollah Members

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

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