Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Friday that recent car bomb in the Beirut suburb of Bir Al-Abed that wounded dozens serves the Israeli project.

“The blast in [the southern suburbs] is part of the ongoing targeting of the resistance, and the beneficiary of the blast is the system ... that serves the Israeli project,” said Qassem, who spoke on the seventh anniversary of the beginning of July-August 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel.

“Anyone who saw the size of the explosion knows that what happened was a real attack, one which was part of a series that this hidden enemy wishes to carry out,” said Qassem.

“Israel and groups working to incite [Sunni-Shiite] strife" were responsible for the attack that wounded over 50 and caused extensive material damage, he added.

Qassem also criticized Arab including Persian Gulf littoral countries for not condemning the Bir Al-Abed blast.

“Let the people comment on the Arab silence, and particularly by the Persian Gulf [countries], over the [southern suburb] explosion,” he said.

Qassem, who said ties between Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia were not as they should be, also criticized Riyadh’s ambassador to Lebanon, saying the envoy had no right to instruct the resistance group on how to act with other Lebanese factions.

“Hezbollah’s ties with Saudi Arabia are lower than normal ones and Saudi Arabia is to blame for this,” he said.

“The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon went beyond diplomatic ethics when he accused Hezbollah,” he said.

Earlier this month, Ambassador Ali Awad Asiri blamed Hezbollah for Lebanon’s deteriorating situation and advised the resistance group to revise its policy toward Sunnis and other religious sects.

“Hezbollah does not need advice on how to deal with the components of Lebanese society,” Qassem said.

“Hezbollah is an advocate of Muslim unity, in deeds and not just words,” he said.

NJF/NJF