Riyad and his allies of the Arabian Peninsula recalled their ambassadors to Beirut. The country of cedar, in full economic debacle, fear to be transformed again into confrontation ground between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
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After the icy indifference, climbing. A major, diplomatic and economic crisis, opened with the adoption by Saudi Arabia, Friday, October 29, a series of punitive measures against Lebanon. The Kingdom was followed by Bahrain, its very close allied, then by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Each of these countries ordered the expulsion of the Lebanese ambassador to position on his territory, as well as the reminder of his representative in Beirut. Riyadh, in addition, blocked any import from Lebanon: a painful decision for the country of cedar, bankrupt, and for whom the kingdom is an important market.
Saudi Arabia justifies these sanctions by the words against the war in Yemen by the Lebanese Information Minister Georges Qordahi, of the time he did not occupy an official position. In a television interview, recorded in August for a program of the Al-Jazira Qatarie chain and broadcast Monday, October 25, Mr. Qordahi had qualified the Saudi bombings in Yemen of “aggression”. He had denounced an “absurd conflict” and made the defense of the Hush rebels supported by Iran. Remarks that could only raise the IRE of Riyadh, but who appear as a pretext.
In media statements, the Saudi Foreign Minister FaCal Ben Farhan was more explicit: Georges Qordahi’s comments are, according to him, “the symptom of a reality”, and relations with Lebanon are “unsuccessful (…) because of Hezbollah’s hegemony on the local political scene”. He also accused the Lebanese Shiite movement to arm the Houthist rebels in Yemen.
However, neither the political orientations of the minister, nor the influence acquired by Hezbollah and his Iranian godfather in Lebanon do not constitute a novelty. Mr. Qordahi, an ex-figure of the Arab audiovisual landscape, officiated on a Saudi chain, of which he was dismissed in 2011, because he said, his opinions – support for Bachar Al-Assad and Hezbollah.
As for the party-militia, its rise on the local and regional scene goes back to 2015-2016, crucial period that saw its ally, Michel Aoun, to climb to the presidency of Lebanon and its combatants contribute to the rescue of the Assad regime in Syria. His Lebanese opponents, supported by Riyadh, had, on the contrary, made the bet of a change of power in Damascus.
New Calamity for a knee country
The sudden stiffening of Riyadh thus nourishes multiple speculations. Coordination between the Gulf countries – only Oman and Qatar have not imitated Saudi Arabia – has it been prepared upstream? Did Riyado chose to increase the tension in Lebanon to strengthen his hand, in the negotiation process with Tehran, started several months ago in Baghdad? Is this a reaction to the recent advances in the Hushsel rebels in Yemen? Or, Saudi Arabia comes to counter the alternative strategy of Jordan and Egypt, which focus on a quadripartite energy deal – deliver gas and electricity to Lebanon via Syria – to bring these two countries In the Arab giron?
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