(Bloomberg) — Lebanon’s president called on Prime Minister Saad Hariri to return from Saudi Arabia, amid fears his sudden resignation from Riyadh last Saturday was part of a looming confrontation between the kingdom and regional rival Iran.
The way Hariri resigned was “unacceptable,” President Michel Aoun told Saudi Arabia’s envoy at a meeting in the presidential palace outside Beirut on Friday, according to the state-run National News Agency. Aoun also met with envoys from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan. The International Support Group for Lebanon, which includes Russia, the U.S., the European Union and other countries, said it welcomed the demand for Hariri’s return.
Lebanon has long been a battleground for proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran. So when Hariri, a pro-Saudi politician, blamed his resignation on Iran’s meddling in Lebanon’s affairs through its proxy Hezbollah, it fueled speculation that Saudi leaders had demanded he do so and that he wasn’t being allowed to go home. Shortly after Hariri’s speech on Saudi television, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a missile at the international airport in Riyadh — an attack Saudi officials said could be an Iranian “act of war.”
Tensions have escalated ever since. Saudi Arabia on Thursday advised its nationals to leave Lebanon, having earlier warned the Lebanese government of the dangers of Hezbollah, accusing the group — part of the administration — of being involved in every terrorist attack that threatens the kingdom. ‘Declared War’
“It’s clear that Saudi Arabia and Saudi officials have declared war on Lebanon, and on Hezbollah,” the group’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah, an Aoun ally, said in a televised speech on Friday.U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had assured him Hariri had resigned of his own accord. Based on that conversation, Tillerson said he understands that the former prime minister — a dual Saudi and Lebanese national — would need to return home to formally leave his post.
