Lebanese PM Hariri issues warning to Hezbollah, refuses to talk about his time in Saudi Arabia - President Aoun responds

Sputnik
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 16:21 UTC

A political standoff in Lebanon continues to intensify, with the country's Prime Minister yet to decide whether he will finally resign or not.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has made it plain that he will step down if the Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah refrains from paramilitary activity.

Hariri pledged to remain Prime Minister in case Hezbollah "accepted to stick by the state policy of staying out of regional conflicts," according to the French news network CNews.

Comment: The above isn't clearly written. Basically, Hariri will stay PM if Hezbollah agrees to sit down and shut up. He's basically telling Lebanon it's him or Hezbollah. He might be disappointed with his people's answer...

"They know we have to remain neutral in the region. I don't want a political party in my government that interferes in Arab countries against other Arab countries," CNews quoted him as saying.

Comment: Say what? Which Arab countries, precisely? Syria, where they were invited, and where they have been helping to defeat ISIS and al-Qaeda? There's no evidence that Hezbollah is fighting in Yemen with the Houthis.

The remarks came after Hariri returned to Lebanon following his visit to France last week.

At the time, he announced his decision to "postpone" his previous self-proclaimed resignation, pending talks with the rest of the Lebanese government after President Michel Aoun said he would not consider Hariri's resignation until after a personal meeting.

Hariri announced his resignation in a video address from Saudi Arabia on November 4, in which he accused Iran and the Hezbollah movement of attempting to destabilize Lebanon and the Middle East, something that was rejected by Tehran.

He said back at the time that he would not tolerate Hezbollah's positions that "affect our Arab brothers or targets the security and stability of their countries," according to his press office statement.

Due to Lebanon's religious diversity, the country's government includes the representatives of the three main religious groups - Sunni, Shiite and Maronite Christian. As for Hezbollah, it remains the most powerful wing of Lebanon's executive branch.

Since 2012 Hezbollah fighters have fought on the side of the government's armed forces in the Syrian civil war. The movement is classified as a terrorist organization in the US, Israel, the European Union and the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council.

Comment: Apparently, what happens in Saudi Arabia stays in Saudi Arabia:

The prime minister was also quoted by Lebanese sources as saying that he would keep to himself what happened in Saudi Arabia, implying that he did not feel free to expose what had actually transpired in the Arab kingdom.

Hariri must still be a bit shellshocked from his time in the Kingdom, because his mind seems to have gone. Thankfully, Lebanese President Aoun is sane:

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement has met with European leaders in Rome and assured journalists that the situation in Lebanon is far more stable than reinstated Prime Minister Saad Hariri's statements would lead one to believe.
...
President Michel Aoun calmly explained this by stating that "when the war against terrorism is finished, their (Hezbollah's) fighters will come back to the country".

Aoun further explained that in spite of Hariri's hyperbolic statements,

"We have just finished deliberations with all the political forces in the country. There is a wide agreement".

Aoun remains confident that the current coalition government which includes Hezbollah, will remain in power and that Hariri will remain the Prime Minister. In this sense Aoun has effectively called Hariri's bluff by stating obvious facts which stand in the way of the more fantastical claims of the Prime Minister.