JEDDAH, 29 August 2006 — With the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah expressing regret Sunday on Lebanese TV for the month-long war in Lebanon in which more than a thousand people died, many people in the Kingdom accused the Hezbollah militia of “adventurism” and being “irresponsible.”
According to Homoud Al-Bader, a Shoura Council member, Hezbollah’s kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers has taken Lebanon back to “square one.”
Describing the actions as “miscalculated” and “provocative” Al Bader said that Lebanon had lost hundreds of lives, its infrastructure had been demolished, and now other governments were helping the country to rebuild.
Jeddah resident Abu Sami said Saudi Arabia was correct when they described the Hezbollah war against Israel as an adventure. “If we look at the situation now, the only thing that Nasrullah gained was scaring Israeli citizens and forcing them to live in bunkers for a month. But let’s be realistic, what did the Lebanese people win? Nothing.”
Abu Sami believes that the war was not worth the hassle of having roads bombed, houses demolished and people made homeless. “The Lebanese government should charge Nasrullah for having pursued an ill-conceived adventure against the Lebanese people. All the people that have suffered from this war should file lawsuits against him,” he added.
At the outbreak of war between Hezbollah and Israel, many Saudis felt angry when the Saudi government negatively described Nasrullah’s movement.
Abu Muhammad, a Saudi private sector worker, said, “What I don’t understand is that if he knew that Israel was going to react like this then why did he do it? In my opinion he is no different to (Osama) Bin Laden who brought destruction to the Arab and Islamic world because of his adventurism.”
Speaking about the refugees, Salah Salama, a Palestinian living in Saudi Arabia, said, “What about the thousands of Lebanese that have died because of the Israeli attack? What are they going to tell their families? That they died for nothing.”
Salama added that Nasrullah made a big mistake. “He gave the Israelis an excuse to attack and destroy a county that was rebuilding what was destroyed in 15 years of civil war,” he said.
Hasan Minawi is a Lebanese national in his early 30s living in Jeddah. He said, “Nasrallah’s regret was expected – he wasn’t even ready for this war. He did not build any shelters or at least set up an siren system to warn people about pending attacks. He was ready with arms but not with backup. He should have apologized long ago.”
Minawi added, “Nasrallah knows how the Israeli enemy behaves, he should have known it was going to go this far and even beyond.”
Mazin Mansoor, a 24-year-old Lebanese working in a media company, said, “It’s too late for regret, the cost has been too great. We have lost Lebanon and many innocent civilians. This is not a true victory for Lebanon – the cost was too much to bear.”
Saudi political analyst, Turki Al-Hamad, said, “These actions make us feel poignant. The only outcome of such aimless actions is feeding hatred against Islam.”
Commentating on the two journalists who were taken hostage by a previously unheard of Islamic group in Palestine recently and forced to convert at gunpoint in front of a video camera, Homoud Al-Bader said, “Our problems come from the uneducated groups who hide in caves and speak about a religion that they apparently do not know the basics of. In Islam no one can force a non-Muslim to become a Muslim.”
Al-Bader added, “Sadly our problems come from within the Islamic world through the hands of terrorists who claim to speak in the name of Islam, we the majority of Muslims have become the victims and our cause hurt by their acts.”
