Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah last week gave a fiery speech promising to double the number of troops that the Iran-backed terror group has fighting in Syria on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad regime. The Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Tuesday slammed the speech:

“At the same time that he calls for self restraint, he threatens the Syrians that his party will be more involved in fighting them,” Al-Zayani said in a Monday press statement. “This is a flagrant meddling in their (Syrians’) internal affairs and an obvious violation of the Syrian sovereignty,” he said. “Nasrallah continues to boast about the participation of his militia in slaughtering children, women and innocent Syrians, and destroying their towns and property.” He even boasts that he is “ready to double the number of his militia fighters and even to join the fight himself against the Syrian people,” Zayani added.

The GCC earlier this summer committed to imposing financial sanctions against Hezbollah over its regional and global activities. Gulf countries blame Hezbollah for fomenting unrest within their borders, and for playing a critical role in recent advances by the Syrian army against largely Sunni opposition groups. GCC officials have made a point of emphasizing that their targeting of Hezbollah is “more comprehensive” than a recent E.U. decision to designate the group, inasmuch as the Europeans only blacklisted Hezbollah’s so-called “military wing” while the Gulf nations’ actions apply to all of Hezbollah. Hezbollah officials have repeatedly denied that the E.U.’s distinction is a tenable or accurate description of the organization’s structure.

[Photo: Johann.stiegler / Wiki Commons]