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Hezbollah Appeal to Saudi Arabia Was Spurred by Iran, Sources Say
Lebanon’s Hezbollah Chief Naim Qassem gives a televised speech from an unknown location, July 30, 2025, in this screen grab from video. Photo: Al Manar TV/REUTERS TV/via REUTERS
Hezbollah‘s effort to blunt international pressure on Lebanon to disarm the terrorist group by appealing to Saudi Arabia last week was the result of back-channel diplomacy by Iran, two Iranian sources and a source with knowledge of Hezbollah thinking said.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem appealed to Saudi Arabia to turn “a new page” and set aside past disputes to create a unified front against Israel in a speech last week, a move widely seen as signaling the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group’s alarm at the push to make Lebanon implement a plan for disarming it.
Iran‘s involvement, which has not previously been reported, also indicates Tehran’s anxiety that its main Lebanese ally will lose more ground after suffering major reverses during last year’s war with Israel.
Saudi Arabia, a Sunni power that has long regarded Hezbollah as a terrorist organization that exercises undue influence over Lebanon on Iran‘s behalf, has consistently backed disarmament and has shown no signs of changing course since Qassem’s appeal.
Saudi officials did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on Hezbollah‘s appeal to the kingdom or whether Riyadh’s policy on the group’s possession of weapons has changed.
The issue of Hezbollah’s weapons is bitterly divisive in Lebanon and has grown increasingly urgent as the United States presses Beirut to announce a plan to disarm the group and as Israel continues air strikes in the country.
IRANIAN INTERVENTION
Iran‘s outreach to the Saudis came via Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who visited Riyadh recently, according to the two Iranian sources and the source with knowledge of Hezbollah thinking.
The source familiar with Hezbollah thinking said the group believed the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Saudi Arabia‘s Gulf ally Qatar this month may have changed the situation sufficiently to erase old enmities.
However, the source added that the group had only made its appeal to Saudi Arabia after a signal from the Iranians, saying Larijani had urged Qassem to show goodwill to the kingdom.
One of the Iranian sources said the subject of Hezbollah‘s weapons was one of the main topics of discussion during Larijani’s trip to Riyadh. The other Iranian source said Larijani had told Saudi Arabia that neither Lebanon nor the wider region would benefit from disarming Hezbollah.
Former arch regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on a rapprochement in 2023 after years of competition that aggravated conflicts and political disputes in several Arab countries.
However, Saudi Arabia remains wary of Iranian influence in Arab states.
Saudi analyst Abdulaziz Sager, head of the Gulf Research Center, said the kingdom’s policy was based on the state having an exclusive right to possess arms and control foreign policy decisions – a stance that meant there was no room for an understanding with Hezbollah.
“The Saudi–Iranian agreement did not change the basis of Saudi demands rejecting Iranian sponsorship of armed sectarian ideological militias linked to Iran‘s expansionist and interventionist regional strategy,” Sager said.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.