For Riyadh, Lebanese Hezbollah is a regional “security threat”


Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Boukhari said on Thursday that Hezbollah, a powerful Lebanese Shiite movement, represents “A security threat” regional, accusations that risk weighing more on the already tense relations between Beirut and Riyadh. Since the end of October, a serious diplomatic crisis has pitted Lebanon against several Arab Gulf monarchies against the backdrop of a standoff over Hezbollah, a heavyweight in Lebanese politics, which is armed and financed by Iran, the great regional rival of Saudi Arabia.

“Riyadh hopes that the (Lebanese) political parties will make the supreme interest of their country their priority (…) and that they will put an end to Hezbollah’s hegemony over all aspects of the state”, said Walid Boukhari in a statement sent to AFP. “Hezbollah’s terrorist activities and military actions in the region threaten the national security of Arab countries”, he added. On Monday evening, in a speech broadcast on Lebanese television channels, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called King Salman of Saudi Arabia “terrorist”, accusing Riyadh of spreading extremism.

Riyadh has been involved in the war in neighboring Yemen since 2015 at the head of a military coalition supporting the government against the Houthi rebels close to Iran. At the end of October, the kingdom recalled its ambassador to Beirut and expelled the Lebanese ambassador after statements by a minister in Lebanon criticizing the intervention of the military coalition in Yemen. Two days later, Saudi foreign minister Faisal ben Farhane said the problem was fine “Beyond the simple comments of a minister”, denouncing “Hezbollah’s hegemony over Lebanon”.

Riyadh also accused Hezbollah of helping the Houthis launch attacks on the kingdom, an allegation rejected by the Lebanese formation. Saudi Arabia has long accused Iran of providing arms to the Houthis and Hezbollah of training insurgents. If Tehran recognizes its political support for the rebels, it denies providing them with weapons. According to the United Nations, the war in Yemen has caused the death of 377,000 people, more than half of them from the indirect consequences of the conflict, including lack of clean water, hunger and disease.



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