Hezbollah provoking the world, ex-militia chief says

Former Hezbollah Secretary-General Subhi al-Tufayli criticized the Lebanese Shiite militia group for its military intervention in Syria in a television interview with Al Arabiya News, aired Friday.

He added that the group, which he formerly led, “has provoked the whole world.”

Tufayli, who was Hezbollah’s chief from 1989 to 1991, said he could not “imagine” why Hasan Nasrallah, the group’s current leader, challenged those who differ with him to fight against his group in Syria.

“We asked those who differ with us to fight against us in Syria as if we are inviting 1.3 billion [Sunni Muslims] to fight against us,” Tufayli stated.

He said Hezbollah conceded major losses in the battle to control the central Syrian town of Qusayr, and the militia was only able to enter the area after the pullout of Syrian rebels who ran out of ammunition. “In Qusayr, there wasn’t a real force to defeat,” he stated.

The Shiite cleric added that, “Hezbollah’s project as a resistance party that works to unify the Islamic world has fallen.”

“It is no longer that party that defends the Umma [Islamic nation]; instead it plagues the Umma,” he said.

Hezbollah, he stressed, has started a sectarian war and “opened the door for a ferocious period of sedition.”

The former Hezbollah leader added that Iran fully controls the group and is responsible for pushing the militia into the Syrian war.

Tufayli lost his post in 1991 to Abbas al-Musawi and in 1992 he broke away from the group after accusing it of “moderation” towards the Lebanese state. He further criticized the group for taking part in the country’s parliamentary elections and for being part of the national government.

He went on to form another group called “the Revolution of the Hungry,” which opposes the Lebanese government.