Saudi Seeking to Turn Lebanon into a Crisis Zone in West Asia
Speaking to IQNA, Alptekin Dursunoglu said Riyadh wanted to repeat the scenario that was played in Yemen in 2015 this time in Lebanon.
"However, they were faced with even more disgrace this time than the crisis in Yemen,” he said.
The analyst said the timing and place of resignation and the way Hariri announced it show that the Lebanese premier was only playing a role dictated to him by the Saudis.
He said that by doing this, the Saudis sought to convey the message that they are the ones who decide who should be the Sunni prime minister in Lebanon.
They wanted to prove that despite the defeats of Saudi-backed armed groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon from Iran, Hezbollah and their allies, Riyadh is not going to give up, he added.
Hariri stunned Lebanon on November 4 by announcing his resignation in a live television broadcast from Saudi Arabia. He accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world, an allegation rejected by both sides.
Senior sources close to Hariri and top Lebanese officials said Riyadh had coerced the Lebanese premier into stepping down and put him under house arrest.
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun refused to accept Hariri’s resignation, stressing that he was being detained in Saudi Arabia against his will.
After brief visits to France, Egypt and Cyprus, Hariri returned to Lebanon on November 22 and put his resignation on hold.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Dursunoglu referred to different cases of Saudi interference in Yemen and said like the Hariri case, it was the Saudis who forced the then Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to resign from his post.
"They also forced Hadi (after his resignation) to ask for foreign intervention in Yemen.”
He noted that this time, too, Riyadh was seeking to repeat Yemen’s scenario in Lebanon but was disgraced when Hariri returned to Beirut and put his resignation on hold.
