Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah of the Lebanese branch of the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah has denounced the recent violent in Paris, France. Sheikh Nasrallah went so far as to assert that the terrorists did more harm to Islam than Charlie Hedbo news organization, the target of their attack.
The words themselves are strong coming from a prominent Muslim leader. However, their impact upon Al Qaida or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) will be minimal. That is because Sheikh Nasrallah and his group Hezbollah are Shiite Muslims.
Al Qaida and ISIS are Sunni Muslims. The two dominant sects of Islam do not have much regard for one another. People may not recall the bloody Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s was largely a religious war pitting Iraqi Sunnis against Iranian Shiites. In fact, Sheikh Nasrallah’s branch of Hezbollah is currently fighting against ISIS in Syria and are allies of the nation’s despotic leader Bashar Assad.
In the past, Sheikh Nasrallah denounced the September 11 attacks. That said, he led Hezbollah in the 2006 war against Israel where the terrorist group fired thousands of Katyusha rockets into Northern Israel. Innocent civilians were killed in the resulting attacks, but they may not have been the actual targets. This is because the rockets made by Hezbollah were noted for their inaccuracy.
In short, the cleric’s denunciation of terrorist attacks lacks the moral authority that a truly non-violent spiritual leader would possess. It is more likely that Sheikh Nasrallah is manipulating the media against his long-time religious rivals in the Sunni Muslim community.