A powerful Iranian general said that Hezbollah, which with its allies controls 74 seats in parliament after last month’s vote, has turned Lebanon into a “Resistance state,” Iran’s semi-official Mehr News reported Tuesday.

Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)- Qods Force, said, “Hezbollah for the first time won 74 seats out of 128 Lebanese parliamentary seats, thus it has transformed into a Lebanese Resistance state from a Lebanese Resistance political party, and this is a great victory.”

“Lebanon’s recent election was a referendum. The election came at a time when everybody was accusing Hezbollah of interfering in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and the region as a whole,” the general added.

Despite Hezbollah transforming Lebanon into a “Resistance state,” Soleimanei denied that Hezbollah was engaged in terrorism, describing the group as “the nicest and most decent political movement.”

The Quds Force, according to the United States Treasury Department, has a “long history” of supporting Hezbollah and its terrorist activities, “providing it with guidance, funding, weapons, intelligence, and logistical support.”

In October 2016, parliament elected Michel Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement, a Hezbollah ally, as president. Hezbollah kept Lebanese politics in limbo for two and a half years until it could get an ally elected as president. Once Aoun formed a government, it was able to pass a new election law.

The election was held under that law adopted last year, which was expected to give Hezbollah a majority in parliament.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, in Novemnber 2017, accused Hezbollah of having “kidnapped the Lebanese system” and denounced the group as “a first-class terrorist organization used by Iran to destabilize Lebanon and the region.”

[Photo: TRT World / YouTube ]