Manama: Lebanese officials have distanced themselves from anti-Bahrain statements issued by Hezbollah as Bahrain’s foreign minister has asked Beirut to respect an Arab League communiqué that condemned them.

Last week, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanese group Hezbollah, compared in a televised address Bahrain to Israel, triggering a wave of angry protests from Bahrain, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Arab League.

On Sunday, Bahrain’s foreign ministry summoned the Lebanese Chargé d’Affaires Ebrahim Elias Assaf and informed him of the need to take deterrent legal action towards such acts. The UAE also formally protested against Nasrallah’s remarks.

On Wednesday, GCC Secretary-General Abdul Lateef Al Zayani summoned the ambassador of Lebanon in Saudi Arabia Abdul Sattar Eisa and handed him a protest memorandum over the “hostile, irresponsible and violence-inciting statements that are a flagrant meddling in Bahrain’s internal affairs.”

GCC countries have designated Hezbolloh as a terrorist organization for incitement of violence and terrorism.

The next day, the 22-nation Arab League called on the Lebanese government to take a clear position on Nasrallah’s comments.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil later said Al Nahar daily Beirut that the statement against Bahrain did not reflect the stance of the Lebanese government and that his country supported the principle of the Arab League not to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries.

However, Bassil rejected the Arab League statement that could be seen as against Lebanon or against a segment of the Lebanese, saying that “Lebanese national unity is more important than Arab solidarity.”

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa was quick to react by tweeting that Lebanon had a moral duty to stand by those that supported it.

“The Arab League statement towards the terrorist Nasrallah is clear, like the sun,” Shaikh Khalid posted on his account that has 200,666 followers. “Lebanon has to stand by its brothers the way they have always done with Lebanon through good and bad times. The Lebanese delegation to the Arab League meeting preferred to stick to a phony national unity rather than support the Arab solidarity that had saved it from strife and never had hesitated to stand with it.”

In another tweet, Shaikh Khalid said that “Lebanon is a great country that was once ruled by outstanding people such as Bichara Al Khouri, Camille Chamoun, Saeb Salam and Rafik Hariri.”

“However, today unfortunately, it is controlled by a terrorist agent,” he said, referring to Nasrallah.

Several Lebanese leaders also blasted the Hizbollah leader over his remarks on Bahrain.

Interior Minister Nihad Al Mashnouq insisted on the need to apologise to Bahrain over the remarks and to avoid any form of tension with the GCC.

“There are three things that I would like to clarify,” he told Al Nahar daily. First, the secretary general of Hezbollah does not speak on behalf of the state or the government; second, Bahrain has been an Arab country for centuries, and third, I consider an apology to Bahrainis as a duty, based on the deep-rooted relations between our two countries,” he said.

Labour Minister Sajaan Qazi said that “Lebanon can distance itself from the problems in the region, but it cannot remain passive and not take a position towards a Lebanese group that interferes in the affairs of the region,” Al Nahar reported.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Junblatt also criticized Nasrallah’s remarks.

“We must object to these remarks because they are not acceptable, and comparing Bahrain to Israel, the historic enemy of the Arabs for decades, cannot be tolerated regardless of how deep political differences are,” he said. “We have to take into consideration the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who live in the Gulf and who contribute effectively to its societies and at the same time benefit from them. Even the large remittances from the Lebanese expatriates have a significant role in sustaining the Lebanese economy. Making political statements that do not take such facts in consideration is not helpful at all” he said.