Hizbullah Chief: Netanyahu ‘Inciting’ Against Lebanon By Claiming Iran In Control

Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of trying to turn global powers against Lebanon, after the Israeli leader slammed the country’s newly-formed government in which the Iranian-backed Shiite terror group upped its representation. “The Zionist prime minister is inciting the United States, European countries and Gulf nations against the Lebanese government [by] claiming it is controlled by Hizbullah,” Nasrallah charged. Last week, political factions in Beirut ended nine months of gridlock by forming a new cabinet, with Hizbullah and its allies given oversight of both the health and finance ministries. “Hizbullah just joined the government of Lebanon. That’s a misnomer; they actually control the government of Lebanon,” Netanyahu asserted over the weekend, adding “this means that Iran controls the government of Lebanon.” While the United States has sanctioned Hizbullah, Washington continues to provide political and financial support to the Lebanese government—ostensibly led by Sunni Prime Minister Saad Hariri—as well as to the Lebanese Armed Forces. According to reports, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently rebuffed a request by Netanyahu to end the longstanding American policy of differentiating between Beirut and Hizbullah.