Iran Leader Assails Rival Shiite Groups
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — An Iranian leader, in Tehran’s strongest condemnation so far, said Friday that Iran is disgusted by the fighting between rival Shiite Muslim militias in Lebanon.
Parliamentary Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani said the pro-Iranian Hezbollah (Party of God) militia and the rival Syrian-backed Amal group “are both committing murder and the Islamic Republic is disgusted,” the Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
He told a mass prayer meeting in Tehran that the clashes are revolting.
Tehran finances Hezbollah and praises it as the standard-bearer of true Islam in Lebanon.
At least 116 people have been killed in the past two weeks in some of the worst fighting between Amal and Hezbollah in Beirut and southern Lebanon.
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