Saudi envoy calls on Lebanon to 'return to Arab fold'

By Hamza Tekin

BEIRUT

Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri on Tuesday called on Lebanon to "return to the Arab fold".

Asiri held a press conference after meeting Lebanese religious delegations that visited the Saudi embassy in Beirut to express solidarity with the oil-rich kingdom.

The ambassador said the visit reflected "the Lebanese peoples’ love for Saudi Arabia and desire to maintain close relations between the two countries".

Asiri said that "those who seek to harm these relations don’t represent the Lebanese people or Lebanon", going on to assert -- in a veiled reference to Hezbollah -- that "a certain Lebanese group is working against the interests of its country".

He went on to urge Lebanon and its people to "return to the Arab fold".

Saudi Arabia, the ambassador stressed, was keen to see Lebanon "maintain its security, allowing it to shoulder its responsibilities".

At a press conference held Monday, former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri called on Saudi Arabia and other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) "not to give up on Lebanon and to keep supporting it" with a view to preventing the country from "falling into the Iranian abyss".

Hariri also called on the Lebanese people to sign a "document of solidarity" with the Arab Gulf States.

In a related development last Friday, Riyadh announced its decision to cancel a promised $3-billion grant to the Lebanese army for the purchase of French arms and a $1-billion grant to the country’s internal security forces.

Quoting an unnamed official source, the Saudi Press Agency said the decision had come after Riyadh had conducted a "comprehensive review" of its relations with Lebanon.

One day later, the GCC declared its "full support" for the Saudi move, likewise urging Beirut to "reconsider its positions and policies".

In a veiled reference to Shia Iran, the GCC voiced its "deep regret" that Lebanese policy had become "hostage to the interests of external regional powers".

Saudi Arabia accuses Shia Hezbollah -- Lebanon’s most powerful military force -- of serving as a proxy for Iran and of hijacking Lebanese policy-making.

Since 2012, Hezbollah has sent fighters to Syria to support the Bashar al-Assad regime, a close ally of Tehran’s.

Riyadh, meanwhile, remains one of Assad’s staunchest foes.

Hezbollah, for its part, has denounced Saudi military intervention in neighboring Yemen, where Riyadh is leading a fierce campaign against the Shia Houthi militant group, which in 2014 overran much of the country.

Saudi Arabia accuses the Houthis of serving as a proxy force for Iran.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia warned its citizens against traveling to Lebanon and called on Saudi nationals living in the country to leave, the Saudi Press Agency reported.