Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's escalating stances against the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia were widely condemned in Lebanon.
President Michel Aoun said he was committed to Lebanon's official stance, which he reiterated during his latest address to the Lebanese people.
In it, he underscored his keenness on Lebanon's Arab and international relations, especially with the Gulf, led by Saudi Arabia.
"This keenness must be mutual because it favors Lebanon and the Gulf countries alike," he remarked.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement late on Monday that Nasrallah's stances "do not represent the position of the Lebanese government and the vast majority of the Lebanese people."
"It is not in Lebanon's interest to offend any Arab country, especially the nations of the Gulf," he added.
"We have long called for adopting a policy of dissociation from Arab disputes and called against harming Lebanon's ties with the Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia," he continued.
"This is why we have demanded that foreign policy be addressed at the dialogue table to avert Lebanon consequences it cannot tolerate," Mikati stressed.
"We have called for Hezbollah to become part of the diverse Lebanese fabric, but its leadership goes against this approach with statements that primarily harm the Lebanese people and Lebanon's ties with its brothers," he lamented.
"For God's sake, have mercy on Lebanon and the Lebanese people and stop the hateful sectarian and political rhetoric."
Addressing Nasrallah, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said: "History won't have mercy on you."
In a tweet, he added: "Mr. Nasrallah, your insistence on antagonizing Saudi Arabia and its leadership is another example of how you gamble with Lebanon, its role and interests of its people."
"Saudi Arabia and all Gulf countries have embraced the Lebanese people and provided them with job opportunities and the opportunities for a dignified life. Those who threaten the Lebanese people's livelihood, stability and progress are those who want the Lebanese state to be a hostage to the state of Iran and its expansion in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon," he remarked.
"I know that you will not back down from your provocations and insults against the Arab Gulf countries, but everyone knows that history will not have mercy on a party that has sold its Arabism, stability of its nation and interests of its people for a paltry role in the wars in the region," Hariri continued.
Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Nasrallah's offense against Saudi Arabia during the critical time Lebanon is enduring is like a "crime against Lebanon and the Lebanese people and it jeopardizes their national interests."
He described Nasrallah's speech as "Iranian in every sense of the word."
"It is as if he is expressing Iran's loss of patience with the current conflict and tussle with the United States at the Vienna negotiations and Iran's diminished role in Yemen, its clash with the Arab Gulf countries, and weakened project in Iraq and Syria after it was confronted with human and geographic facts on the ground," he noted.
"Any Lebanese person, who takes into account the interests of his country and fellow citizens, does not act like Nasrallah during such difficult times," he added.
Former President Michel Suleiman slammed Nasrallah's statements, saying the majority of the Lebanese people reject his position and believe that they incur great harm on Lebanon and destroy its ties with Saudi Arabia "that has loved Lebanon without wanting anything in return."
Kataeb MP Elias Hankash mocked Nasrallah's claim that Saudi Arabia was taking the Lebanese people residing in the Kingdom as "hostages".
"The hostages in the Gulf are planning for the future, while in the land of resistance they reside in humiliation," he remarked.
In a tweet, he said he asked "his friends (hostages) in the Gulf about their daily suffering in a country that is detaining them and the injustice they are suffering, and I found that they are living a peaceful dignified life that remains abreast of the changes of the current age and they plan a better future for their children.
"In the land of resistance and (victories), they live between life and death. They are poor, humiliated and worried about their future," he lamented.
