BEIRUT: Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel slammed Hezbollah Monday over what he said was the group’s meddling in the affairs of several Arab states and Bulgaria and warned that such interference endangered stability in Lebanon.
“Hezbollah’s practices harm Lebanon’s interests and stability, especially the meddling in Bahrain, Syria and Bulgaria’s affairs,” Gemayel said following a meeting with Cardinal Beshara Rai in Bkirki.
“Hezbollah should be conscious that its meddling in foreign countries’ affairs will result in negative repercussions for the whole country [Lebanon],” he said.
“We are all in the same boat after all,” he added.
Three Hezbollah members and 12 rebels were killed over the weekend in battles in the Syrian town of Qusayr where a majority of Shiite Lebanese live, according to a Lebanese security source, raising once more the question of whether the Lebanese group is active in the crisis in Syria.
Syria’s opposition and some local parties have repeatedly accused Hezbollah of sending fighters to Syria to support forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
Hezbollah denies allegations it is participating in events in Lebanon’s neighbor.
Bahrain has also accused Hezbollah, which backs protesters calling for reforms there, of interfering in its local affairs.
Bulgaria, for its part, recently implicated two men with links to Hezbollah in the July 2012 bombing in the Black Sea resort of Burgas that claimed the lives of five Israeli tourists.
Over the weekend, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah cast doubt on his party’s involvement in the incident, saying Israel had immediately accused the resistance group of being behind the attack. The Hezbollah chief said he would wait before commenting on the Burgas bombing.
Gemayel Monday said that although Hezbollah had committed itself to the “Baabda Declaration” during a National Dialogue meeting last year, the resistance group was breaching the accord.
“Hezbollah agreed to the Baabda declaration but has failed to abide to it,” said Gemayel.