Hezbollah Vows Revenge for Saudi Executions

Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement vowed revenge on Friday against Saudi Arabia for beheading 16 Shiite Muslims from Kuwait who were convicted in two bombings that killed one man and injured 16 others during the annual Muslim pilgrimage last July in the holy city of Mecca.

Hezbollah, or Party of God, issued a statement condemning the Saudi government for the executions, which it described as a “massacre” and an “act of terrorism.”

“We consider the execution of 16 Kuwaiti pilgrims a terrorist act carried out by the rulers of (Saudi Arabia) who are intruders to Islam in order to satisfy America, the mother of decadence and terrorism in the world,” the statement said.

“The spirit of deep hatred controlling the practices of this terrorist regime against the genuine Muslim will be a motivation for avenging the blood of these oppressed Muslims,” it said.

Hezbollah is believed to hold some of the 14 Western hostages missing in Lebanon. It has also been linked to the crash of a French DC-10 airliner in the Sahara Desert Tuesday.

The one-page statement in Arabic was delivered to a Western news agency in Beirut.

Hezbollah’s spiritual leader, Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, also warned during Friday prayers in Beirut of “chaos” following the executions.

He said there was a plot to harm Iran’s image and accused the Saudi judges of sentencing the men to death because they were Shiite pilgrims commemorating the death of Iran’s spiritual leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

He was repeatedly interrupted by hundreds of bearded worshipers who raised their fists and shouted, “God is great, death to (Saudi King) Fahd.”

Saudi Arabian newspapers said Friday the Kuwaiti bombers, who were publicly executed on Thursday, were anti-Muslim puppets--but made no reference to any Iranian involvement.