BEIRUT: Deputy head of Hezbollah's executive council Sheikh Nabil Qaouk launched a scathing attack Monday on the March 14 coalition, accusing the group of arming the Syrian opposition and attempting to use the crisis in Syria as a means of regaining power.

Qaouk also warned that the resistance group could "bring down a great catastrophe upon Israel."

“Where is the ‘Lebanon First’ slogan? They have stomped on this slogan and now their motto has become ‘Syria First’ because through the [issue] of Syria they wish to regain power,” the Hezbollah official said.

“They [March 14] were peddlers of slogans in the past, now they peddle weapons to Syria,” he added.

Qaouk’s comments, which came during an event in Adloun, south Lebanon, commemorating slain resistance leaders, echo those of Hezbollah chief Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah. In a speech Thursday, Nasrallah accused the March 14 alliance of funding and arming the Syrian opposition.

Last Tuesday, which marked the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, speakers from across the March 14 coalition voiced their backing of the Syrian opposition, which seeks an end to the rule of President Bashar Assad.

Qaouk also warned the March 14 movement against wagering on regional change in the hope it could be used to weaken the resistance group.

“This is a dream,” he said.

“The March 14 coalition should know that the resistance today is at its strongest and is prepared to bring down a great catastrophe upon Israel.”

Qaouk also warned the March 14 coalition not to bank on a collapse of the government.

“The government will go on because the equation that brought it about remains and has not changed,” he added.