The leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah on Friday described French cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) as an aggression and likened Paris sticking by them to “declaring a sort of war”, Reuters reports.
In a televised speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said French authorities had worsened a standoff over the caricatures, which stirred anger among Muslims, by being stubborn.
The head of the heavily armed Shi’ite movement condemned this week’s fatal stabbings at a church in Nice, but said Western leaders also bore responsibility for such crimes because of their roles in Middle East conflicts.