Abu Righal’s Anxiety

Opinion

January 5th, 10:25am

Tariq Al-Homayed

Tariq Al-Homayed - Saudi journalist and writer, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper

I always recommend reading the speech of the leader of the terrorist Hezbollah - which the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari described as the “Abu Righal of our Age” - instead of watching it on television. His speech, which came in commemoration of the second anniversary of the killing of terrorists Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, focused on several clear points. First, the speech comprised around five thousand and seven hundred words. It began with Iraq, specifically reminding Iraqis of their enemies and friends, which highlighted Abu Righal’s outrage at the Saudi-Iraqi rapprochement. In perplexity about the Iraqi popular rejection of Iran, Iraq and the Iraqis were mentioned 99 times in his speech. Most of his talk about Iraq was focused on the fact that Iran was the friend and Saudi Arabia was the enemy, in addition to linking the Kingdom to the United States. Iran was mentioned in his speech 15 times, while Saudi Arabia 20 times, and the enemy 23 times! It is obvious that the leader of the terrorist party is worried about the success of the Saudi project in the region – a feeling which he fails to hide, as he asserts that the intra-Gulf reconciliation came by an American decision. But a good judge knows that this came as a result of the efforts of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. Terrorist Hassan said a dangerous sentence that reveals an old sectarian scheme, where he says that Saudi Arabia’s problem in Lebanon lied “with those who prevented the country from turning into a Saudi emirate and sheikhdom after 2005” that is, after the assassination of the martyr Rafik Hariri! Therefore, the speech of the terrorist party leader reflected anxiety about the success of the Saudi project, Vision 2030, and the political leadership project, as well as trepidation at the recent and painful Saudi moves against the Houthis and Hezbollah in Yemen. Abu Righal, for instance, mentioned Yemen in his speech 11 times, commenting ambiguously on the important Saudi intelligence infiltration of the Houthis. While he exposed Hezbollah’s involvement in Yemen in audio and video, he did not elaborate on the situation there, but only spoke with slogans and emotion. He did not mention the Israeli targeting of Iran and the terrorist Hezbollah in Syria, although he repeated the name of Israel 23 times. Rather, he bragged about the deal of the century and Gulf-US relations, while disregarding the Vienna negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file and the parallel Iranian-American-Western talks. The leader of the terrorist party talked about the destructive US role on the anniversary of the assassination of terrorists Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis by an American raid, while overlooking that Tehran is currently negotiating with their killers and seeking to lift sanctions and to obtain money from Washington! Thus, whoever reads the speech, instead of watching it, finds that it is inconsistent, and reflects emotion and confusion, and a real concern about the success of the Saudi project, especially after the Saudi-French statement on Lebanon and the successive Gulf declarations. The speech also reveals that terrorist Hassan is shaken by the Saudi-Iraqi rapprochement, and the painful Saudi strikes against the Houthis and Hezbollah in Yemen. As for Abu Righal’s talk about extremism, it is to distract attention from the reality that Hezbollah and ISIS are two sides of the same coin.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3396951/tariq-al-homayed/abu-righal%E2%80%99s-anxiety