Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, took a cue from the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, and blamed President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the creation of the terrorist group ISIS.
“This American candidate, who speaks in the name of the American Republican party, has facts,” Nasrallah said, referring to Trump’s accusations that Obama founded ISIS with the help of his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.
The latest comments from Hezbollah, showing support for Trump, is just the latest in a longer line of rogue foreign leaders that have shown support and approval for Trump. North Korea’s government praised Trump as “a wise politician,” and Russian President Vladimir Putin called the New York billionaire “the absolute leader of the presidential race.”
After some backlash, Trump tried to walk back his comments that Obama and Clinton were “co-founders” of ISIS, saying he was being sarcastic, the same excuse he used when he came under fire for inviting Russia to hack Clinton’s e-mails. But according to his running mate, vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, Trump was not joking.
“He was being very serious, and he was making a point that needs to be made, that there is no question that the failed policies of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the wider Middle East, created a vacuum within Iraq in which ISIS was able to arise,” said Pence.
“Who can imagine that the U.S. can’t know who is behind sending money and arms to the terrorists in Syria and Iraq?” Nasrallah said. Besides Trump’s comments, he has no proof to back up his claim.