As Hezbollah drags the region into a deeper abyss of violence, a former Lebanese leader warns of total destruction.

On Saturday, former Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri called on Hezbollah to withdraw from Syria, claiming their involvement in the civil war there has spilled over into Lebanon, further exacerbating the sectarian violence in the heavily fractured country, AP reports.

Hariri, who has been in a self-imposed exile, was in Lebanon to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of his father, Rafik Hariri, Lebanon’s most prominent Sunni politician. Hariri was killed with 21 others in a massive truck bombing in Beirut in 2005.

A special UN investigation revealed that the Shi’ite Hezbollah terror organization was behind the attack, implicating five Hezbollah terrorists whom it plans to try in absentia.

Sa’ad Hariri is a harsh critic of Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom he accused in his speech Saturday of “destroying Syria on the heads of Syrians.”

“Withdraw from Syria. Stop dragging the fires from Syria to our country, at times from terrorism and at other times from the Golan and tomorrow from we don’t know where,” AP quotes Hariri as saying, referring to a wave of bombings, gunfights and general unrest that has rocked Lebanon over the past year, leaving scores dead.

Hezbollah Facing a Calamity?

Alongside Assad’s forces, Hezbollah members have been fighting against Syrian rebels and Sunni terror organizations since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. Hezbollah sustained heavy losses in the fighting and incurred harsh criticism from within, as critics claim that the Syrian conflict is outside their purview and that Hezbollah should focus their efforts on assaulting Israel.

Hezbollah’s armed intervention in Syria has made the Shi’ite group the target of Syria’s predominantly Sunni rebels, who have attacked Hezbollah’s Dahya stronghold in Beirut several times.

Hariri’s comments came as Syrian troops and Hezbollah, supported by Iranian advisors, are on the offensive in an attempt to recapture rebel-held areas in the Golan and ward off the Sunni al-Nusra Front’s advance towards Lebanon. Simultaneously, Hezbollah launched an assault in the north against the Islamic State (ISIS), which has similarly tried to advance into Lebanon. A successful advance by ISIS into Lebanon could be catastrophic for Lebanon’s Shi’ite minority, along with other religious groups persecuted by ISIS.

By: United with Israel Staff