The recent assassination of many senior Hezbollah commanders in the context of the military escalation between Hezbollah and Israel has sparked gleeful responses in the Arab world on the part of Hezbollah opponents and victims. At the same time, Hezbollah supporters have spoken out against the glee at Hezbollah’s plight.
Against this backdrop, Syrian journalist Rami Al-Khalifah Al-Ali wrote in his column in the Saudi daily Okaz that the Arab nations hate Hezbollah because it has carried out crimes and sown chaos in many Arab countries.
He wrote that as one of the key allies of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Hezbollah carried out “horrifying crimes” and “massacres” against unarmed Syrian civilians during the Syrian civil war, including: a brutal siege against civilians that prevented them from receiving food and medicine; the total destruction of entire cities; and the transfer of extremist operatives into Syrian territory.
Al-Ali also wrote that in addition to Syria, Hezbollah has sown chaos in Lebanon and Yemen, has supported the Houthis in their war against Saudi Arabia, has killed innocent civilians, and has developed a large drug trafficking industry throughout the region. Al-Ali concluded that it is therefore not surprising that the Arabs hate Hezbollah.