Hezbollah stopped and detained Saudi nationals riding in a car with diplomatic plates in southern Beirut this week, reported Asharq al-Awsat on Saturday.
Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Ali al-Assiri, told the newspaper that Hezbollah stopped the Saudi nationals on Friday in the Dahiya area of Beirut, he added that they were released at midnight.
The Saudi nationals were traveling to pick up a vehicle that had been left at a mechanic shop in the area, en route they were stopped at a Hezbollah checkpoint and detained, reported Asharq al-Awsat.
Assiri expressed “resentment” over the situation in a phone call with the Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.
Assiri added that the act did not represent the Saudi-Lebanese relationship, according to Asharq al-Awsat.
Another Saudi diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to Al Arabiya English, added: “We fear Hezbollah’s recklessness against our diplomats...this party doesn’t respect legalities in its own country and deals with others on a sectarian basis...all we have seen is aggressive and extremist behavior from it.”
For his part, Mansour told a Lebanese newspaper: “I will not comment on the subject of the Saudi protest to not give it more coverage that it deserves.”
In light of the events, Saudi political analyst, Ahmed al-Faraj, stated that Hezbollah targeted Saudi nationals due to the kingdom’s “stance on rejecting terrorism.
“Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and fights moderation. As any other religious extremist party, it wants to monopolize authority and fulfill its own agendas. It is not strange that Hezbollah followers attacked Saudis given Saudi Arabia’s stance on rejecting terrorism and the axis of evil. Saudi emphasizes the necessity to get rid the world from Assad regime, which is supported by Iran and Hezbollah.”
