Updated

The leader of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group has slammed Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen, calling it "surprising and painful."

Hassan Nasrallah rejected Riyadh's claim that it had assembled a coalition to conduct airstrikes against Shiite rebels in order to save Yemen, and accused it of ignoring the Palestinians in their decades-long struggle with Israel.

Hezbollah, like Yemen's Houthi rebels, is supported by Iran, which Saudi Arabia views as its main regional rival.

In some of his harshest comments to date, Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of sending suicide attackers to Iraq and of creating the Islamic State group. Addressing Saudi Arabia, he said Iran had expanded its influence in the region because "you are lazy, losers, and you don't take responsibility."