BEIRUT, Lebanon: A new Saudi-backed Shiite resistance group is emerging in Lebanon, and its leader promises to provide competition to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in their mutual goal of fighting Israel.

Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reported this.

According to Arab Islamic Resistance founder Sayyed Mohamed Ali al-Husseini his group will fight enemies of Arabs and intends to lead the movement in Lebanon.

The group apparently is the armed offshoot of the Arab Islamic Council, which believes its responsibility is to solve "any conflict that might appear in our Arabic nation, and [try] to gather all Arabs to be a strong power that can't be divided."

At the same time, al-Husseini said it was possible for the two groups to cooperate in the event Lebanon is attacked by Israel, which he called "the first enemy of the Arab nation."

Al-Husseini claims that his group includes more than 3,000 fighters with another 1,500 volunteers who seek to join the group from the Gulf region.

"The new resistance group is now a military organization and has training camps in Lebanon and enough weapons to face any enemy," Al-Husseini said.

He said the Islamic Arab Resistance group differs from Hezbollah, which favors strong links between the Shiites of Lebanon and Iran rather than the Arab world.

Al-Husseini, however, was very positive to Saudi assistance but was critical of Syria, Iran and Hezbollah.

"Everybody, near and far, friend and foe, realizes that the role of the Saudi kingdom – the kingdom of Arabism, of Islam, and of humanism – the role that this kingdom has played and is still playing in Lebanon and in the Arab world is one of reconciliation and unification," Al-Husseini said.