Few leaders have fallen from grace to disgrace as spectacularly as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Less than 10 years ago, he enjoyed a special status within his own country, Lebanon, and in the Arab world after his militia confronted the Israeli army and achieved unprecedented success. His arguments were then plausible and his ideas admired.

However, soon afterwards, his seemingly inexorable fall from grace started. In 2008, he lost popular support in Lebanon following his unexpected position on domestic political developments. But it was mainly in 2011 that he shocked the Arab people when he declared his unwavering support for the Syrian regime against the Syrian people.

Nasrallah who had projected himself as a fervent supporter of the oppressed and the exploited showed a new image to the Arab world in particular and the international community in general. The world was now seeing a man who was using his militia to reinforce the power of the oppressor and exploiter under flimsy arguments such as defending the Lebanese borders from threats — the same argument as with Israel — and protecting religious sites.

At the same time, he started speaking publicly against the leaders of Bahrain and levelling all kinds of charges against them for supposedly not allowing Bahrainis greater democracy and freedom.

The worst of his direct interference in the internal affairs of other countries occurred this month when he launched scathing tirades against Saudi Arabia for leading a coalition of Gulf and Arab countries to restore legitimacy in Yemen. But this time he lacked the insolent arguments about defending frontiers and protecting religious sites and waded into an ocean of embarrassments that precipitated his fall from grace and established him as a mere proxy of Iran.

Nasrallah needs to understand that Lebanon’s interests lie with the Gulf, and not with Iran and that the thousands of Lebanese who seek jobs abroad fly to the Gulf, and never to Iran, where there is nothing for them.

The Hezbollah leader should learn to shift his focus from the interests of Iran to the interests of Lebanon and its people. He should also learn to avoid the lethal slogans of sectarianism, even if he dresses them up as the rights of the oppressed.