Lebanese factions battle to control Yemen narrative

Hezbollah and its allies are in the Iranian corner, while the Saudi-backed March 14 alliance firmly supports the Saudi-led coalition air strikes in Yemen [Getty Images]

Beirut - In a rally held to protest the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of being responsible for the emergence and growth of groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda.

"Where did the ideology of the groups that are destroying societies and countries come from? From which school of thought and books? From whose fatwas? Who is spreading this ideology across the world and building schools everywhere to teach Muslim youths this destructive takfiri ideology?" Nasrallah asked in his speech on Friday.
"Today, al-Qaeda and its branches - al-Nusra Front, ISIL, Boko Haram, al-Shabab - where did they all come from? Take a look at their books and ideology. Very clearly it is Saudi Arabia," he said. On Yemen, Nasrallah added: "It is about time Muslims and Arabs told Saudi Arabia enough is enough."
"What Hezbollah is doing now is definitely unprecedented," Nicholas Noe, a political analyst with expertise on Hezbollah, told Al Jazeera. "It has never spoken this way on Saudi Arabia in public, and for decades it has been particularly careful not to attack the Saudi royal family, even if it's been saying it privately for a while. This is the first time it's ever gone this far [in its rhetoric]."
This signals Hezbollah's belief "that  the Saudi project in the region is reaching a tipping point, and it seems to really believe that Saudi Arabia has gotten itself into a disastrous mistake that could lead to the undoing of the Saudi royal family," Noe said. "It feels it is now more free to voice its opposition of the Saudis."