The former Secretary General of Hezbollah Sheikh Subhi Al-Tufayli warned of a scheme to drag Lebanon into a civil war and said that “We will see bitter days the like of which Lebanon has not seen before and Hezbollah will not be able to withstand this ordeal”. He continued by saying that this war “will slaughter Hezbollah and anyone who stands by the group before it slaughters anyone else”.

Al-Tufayli said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that everything is ready and all of that requires the Americans to turn a blind eye. Al-Tufayli called on Hezbollah to address the problem before things get out of hand completely and said “their weapons will not protect anyone in Lebanon; on the contrary, their weapons are harmful to us and will become an overwhelming blow to every citizen in Lebanon”.

The former Secretary General also criticised Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria by saying “We have become an active and essential part of the sedition without justification”. Today we are no more than mercenary soldiers fighting in favour of Russian politics. In short, like any mercenary in the world fighting for other people’s projects, when he falls he is just a casualty of war and doesn’t have a role. This is our role in Syria”.

Al-Tufayli also believes that Iran’s talk of Islamic unity no longer convinces anyone. He added that “in Iran they believe that what they do is an achievement, whether that is in Yemen, Syria, Iraq or Lebanon. Al-Tufayli also emphasised the need for Iran to “fully reconsider the root of its principles and its relations with the Shiites of Lebanon and the region”. In addition to this, he called on everyone to examine the matter “so that the region is not afflicted by a misfortune”.