Saudi Arabia and Iran squabble over Lebanon

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A boy carried a Hezbollah flag in Jibchit, Lebanon, in February as he ran past portraits of, from left, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader of Iran; Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution; and Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Credit Mahmoud Zayyat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A boy carried a Hezbollah flag in Jibchit, Lebanon, in February as he ran past portraits of, from left, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader of Iran; Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution; and Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Credit Mahmoud Zayyat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
AS SAUDI ARABIA and Iran jostle for power in the Middle East, Lebanon has managed to maintain an uncomfortable balance between the two. Saudi Arabia has long been chummy with Lebanon’s Sunni politicians and some of its Christians. Iran supports Lebanese Shia, not least through Hizbullah, a militia-cum-political party. It has also snuggled up to some Lebanese Christian groups. Nonetheless, an uneasy calm prevailed between Lebanon and the two regional powers. Apparently no longer.

On February 19th Saudi Arabia said it had suspended $4 billion in funding (for the French and Americans) to train and equip the Lebanese army and security forces. Ostensibly the kingdom is angry at Hizbullah, and therefore Iran’s influence, which they see as exemplified by Lebanon’s failure to condemn an attack in January on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia then warned its citizens against travelling to the tiny nation and accused Hizbullah of drug smuggling into the kingdom and sending mercenaries to Yemen and Syria. On March 2nd the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council designated Hizbullah a terrorist organisation.

Hizbullah and Iran are certainly amassing power in the Middle East, often in unsavoury ways. They have propped up Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s blood-spattered despot, provided men and weapons to help Iraq fight Islamic State and are thought to be aiding Yemen’s rebel Houthis. But although in Lebanon Hizbullah has been blocking the nomination of a new president, it has done little new to ignite Saudi ire there. The move probably has more to do with a bolder—and often clumsy—foreign policy under King Salman and his son Muhammad. Their fear of Iran has bordered on panic, not least since Iran concluded a nuclear deal with America and other powers.

The recent Saudi moves against Lebanon seem amateurish. Even if Lebanese parties wanted to, they could do little to diminish the role of Hizbullah, which acts as a state within the state and also dominates the government. “Saudi Arabia sometimes acts with bombast and violence that makes it look like the Donald Trump of the Arab World,” says Rami Khouri of the American University of Beirut.

The result is likely to be that the Saudis lose influence in Lebanon, possibly to Iran. The squabble risks destabilising a divided nation that is already buckling under the weight of Syrian refugees. Lebanon’s politicians, divided by their attitudes to Saudi Arabia and Iran, among many other things, are already trading accusations. Hizbullah and the Future Movement, the main Sunni party led by Saad Hariri, the son of a revered former prime minister, may call off their regular meetings.

This probably makes Lebanon less secure. It is facing threats from the war next door in Syria and from terrorists inspired by it at home. Signalling its concern, the UN has called on other countries to make up the $4 billion. Many Lebanese fear that if the row escalates, the economy will suffer. They worry that the Gulf will kick out Lebanese residents, who send home hefty remittances. Saudis and other Gulf spenders may well ignore the travel warnings, and still spend their money on holidays in freewheeling Beirut, but far fewer have come since the carnage started in Syria.

It does not look like the squall will blow over. Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah’s leader, ramped up the rhetoric against the Al Sauds on March 1st, accusing them of crimes and massacres. Hussein Shobokshi, a Saudi columnist, does not think the kingdom will back down. “Any rise in Iran’s role will hurt the Lebanese more than us,” he says.

Hizbullah has even suggested that Saudi Arabia has cut the cash because it is going bankrupt thanks to low oil prices. Loth to miss an opportunity, Iran has offered to make up the money. The Iranians’ aim may be simply to tweak royal Saudi noses; they can barely afford such a sum.

THE ECONOMIST

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15 responses to “Saudi Arabia and Iran squabble over Lebanon”

  1. PatienceTew Avatar
    PatienceTew

    Where are those Los Angeles ‘street artists’ when you need them?? They could do such wonderful things on these three canvases so kindly provided by the Hizboobs! Ah, Banksy, where are you when we need you?

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Bansky has better things to do.

      1. PatienceTew Avatar
        PatienceTew

        Yah ,,, “Banksy” is a good (tho anonymous) man.

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          and who did your avatar?

          1. PatienceTew Avatar
            PatienceTew

            I have a VERY sensitive nose, for sniffing out obscure facts.

          2. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Where’s Patience ..with a flash on his face

          3. PatienceTew Avatar
            PatienceTew

            You know what happens when you’re bitten by a Were-wolf! A Were-hound!?? (By the way, that flash deal was his epiphany, he’d just discovered how flashes worked!!)

          4. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            OK 🙂

  2. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    THIS is the moment where Lebanon should tell ‘the others’ where to stick it, and GET FREE OF THEM.
    The Army HAS the support it needs. Are ‘The People’ willing to accept running their OWN SHOW?

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Who’s Lebanon? The people are sick of Lebanon owners..where are the beaches , did they ask for a referendum before selling the beaches? I don’t know of any country in the world that sell it’s beaches, do you?

  3. Reasonableman Avatar
    Reasonableman

    If saudi wanted to hurt lebanon it would stop airlines coming in.
    Thoughts this is amateurish is utopian if one concideres the objectives of a diplomatic mission and the wars that come with loss of protection of those heading diplomatic missions.

    The lebanese are funny they have no problem taking money and depending on others but when the money stops they will blame the one giving them money for not letting them be independent.

  4. Abdulrahman A. Al-Zuhayyan Avatar
    Abdulrahman A. Al-Zuhayyan

    Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of innocent people from all walks of life around the globe, including Americans, British French, and other nationalities. No country on planet earth was saved from its suicides attacks counted in the hundreds.

    Hezbollah is dominating the Lebanese political scene for decades by terrorizing and blackmailing their fellow countrymen and women, serving their greedy interests by acting as Iran’s agents. Playing this role is a treachery. It is the dirtiest job ever imaginable. Yet Hezbollah stands in the way of electing the country president, which a post that remained vacant for five years due to its shameful efforts. But these are the acts of immoral bandits.

    In the past five years, Saudi Arabia has provided Lebanon 70 billion of dollars to develop Lebanon and all Lebanese. Now, the least to describe the Saudi foreign policy if it has not halted a 4-billion military hardware assistance, which will eventually go in the hands of Hezbollah and fight Saudi Arabia with them, is just being naive.

    Hezbollah is the Iranian messenger of death and destruction to Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia’s action is long overdue.

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Abdulrahman A. Al-Zuhayyan.
      Your Hohnour

      Hezbollah was born from Begin-Sharon invasion of Lebanon..

      Saudi Arabia is allied with Israel on all fronts (including Lebanon front); why are Palestinian refugees still in Lebanon since 1948?

      What about the meeting ahead of the Arab League Summit?

      Quoting
      “The news of Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s decision not to host the 2016 Arab League summit passed under the radar of Israeli politicians and media. Seemingly, it is an internal Arab issue.
      Why would Israel care that the Moroccan Foreign Ministry thinks there’s no point in another banal event to analyze the “bitter situation of divergences and divisions” among members of the Arab League?
      So what if Morocco thinks it would be a waste of time to hear speeches “that give a false impression of unity” and make meaningless reaffirmations of prior decisions? What does it have to do with us Israelis? Well, it does have something to do with us. More to the point, it should have had to do with us.”

      One of those prior decisions brought forward for reaffirmation at such Arab League summits is the one approved at the 2002 meeting in Beirut accepting the Saudi-brokered Arab Peace Initiative. The resolution on the initiative has been reaffirmed at every summit since, calling for peace and normalization with Israel in exchange for withdrawal from territory occupied in 1967, the creation of a sustainable Palestinian state and a just and agreed-upon resolution of the refugee problem on the basis of UN Resolution 194. Although no Israeli government over the past 14 years has even bothered to hold a debate on the initiative, the summit has nonetheless reconfirmed it year after year. Also of note, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has never retracted its decision to adopt the initiative”.

      NB. There were no ISIS, Al Qaeda had just attacked NY Towers in 2001 (strange).. US invaded Iraq and from then on all Arab countries were destroyed in the Levant, no leaders anywhere only Islamic State al Qaeda, al Nusra, Ahrar el Sham & dozens of other groups..now no leaders in Lebanon. (?)

      “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t missing from the list of regional peace advocates. In May 2015, he said that Israel’s common interests with Arab nations against Iran “create opportunities to advance alliances and perhaps even advance peace.”(..) advance the Arab Peace Initiative to achieve a comprehensive, regional peace. On that occasion, an event commemorating Egypt’s National Day at the Egyptian ambassador’s residence in Herzliya, Netanyahu also said that he was pleased with relations between Israel and Egypt, “but I think we could take them even further. We’ll work to reach regional peace soon.” In the meantime, Netanyahu worked to advance the construction of thousands of housing units in the West Bank, thus sabotaging the chances of creating a sustainable Palestinian state and realizing the Arab Peace Initiative.”

      “The cancellation of the Marrakesh summit is sad news for those Israelis who recognize the unique opportunity in the Arab League’s peace initiative. The king of Morocco’s unusual decision symbolizes the erosion of the Arab League’s status since the Arab Spring. The internal conflicts within the Arab and Muslim worlds around the war in Syria, the strengthening of IS and the instability in Iraq, Libya and Yemen have pushed the Palestinian problem to the margins of the Arab and Muslim agenda. In contrast, “there is no partner for negotiations” camp, for whom the Arab Peace Initiative represents a threat to the Israeli-Palestinian status quo, can breathe a slight sigh of relief.”

      What’s long overdue exactly? How can Lebanon survive in this neighbourhood?

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        (‘Your Honour’. And I wait the reply on THAT one … ;-))

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          Well, i had to be formal he was on a public blog.. of course he won’t reply..:))

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