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Saudi Arabia’s delegation to the Arab League meeting held in Cairo on Friday, March 11th stormed out of the meeting during Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s speech.

This Arab League meeting was an emergency meeting, which took place following a recent escalation in accusations between Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia, and after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Secretary General, accused Saudi Arabia of its implication in a number of bombings in Lebanon since 2005.

This emergency meeting, headed by its newly appointed Secretary General Ahmad Aboul Gheit (who shares good relations with Israelis) witnessed a vote to brand Hezbollah a terrorist organization, just days after the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) did the same. The vote passed, although Lebanon and Iraq abstained.

The PGCC’s decision had come a day after Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of pressuring Lebanon to silence his group.

"Saudi Arabia is angry with Hezbollah since it is daring to say what only a few others dare to say against its royal family.”

Saudi Arabia, whose relationship with Israeli diplomatic circles has become even more apparent of late stormed out during al-Jaafari’s speech, in which he said that “al-Hashd al-Shaabi and Hezbollah have preserved the dignity of the Arabs, and those who call them terrorists are the terrorists.”

Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi popular mobilization forces) and Hezbollah have both been embroiled in heavy combat against ISIS and al-Qaeda in both Iraq and Syria.

In January, Iraq summoned the Saudi ambassador following suggestions he made that al-Hashd al-Shaabi was exacerbating sectarian tensions in Iraq.

The Saudi delegation withdrew during al-Jaafari’s speech to protest his refusal to brand Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and his defense of both resistance organizations.

As for Lebanon’s position, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil related on twitter that: "We voiced reservations because the resolution was not in line with the Arab anti-terror treaty ... Hezbollah enjoys wide representation in Lebanon and it is a main component in the country."