The six member nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council agreed on earlier this week to take action against Hezbollah loyalists who reside within their borders. The decision was made public in a joint GCC statement:

The GCC will take measures against [those] in the GCC countries affiliated with Hezbollah in regards to their residencies as well as their financial and business transactions.

Behind the decision is overarching frustration with the role that Hezbollah is playing in bolstering the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syia. The GCC described Hezbollah as Assad’s “partner in crimes.”

The Saudi Press Agency published additional extracts of the statement contextualizing the move:

[The] GCC strongly condemns the blatant interference of Lebanese Hezbollah in the Syrian crisis and its consequent killing of innocent civilians, it considers that Hezbollah’s participation in shedding the blood of the brotherly Syrian people revealed the nature of this party and its real objectives which surpassed the borders of Lebanon and Arab homeland…Illegal interventions of Hezbollah and the heinous practices of its militias in Syria, would harm its interests in the GCC’s member countries.

[The] GCC also calls on the Lebanese government to assume its responsibilities towards the behavior of Hezbollah and its illegal and inhuman practices both in Syria and the region.

Hezbollah’s activity in Syria has also generated blowback in Lebanonn. An anti-Hezbollah protester was killed Sunday outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

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