Iran Focus
London, 27 Nov – Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said that he would not accept the dangerous positions of Hezbollah (a terrorist group backed by the Iranian Regime) that are designed to destabilise the Middle East, according to a statement from his press office on Saturday.
In the statement, he said that on certain issues Iran-backed Hezbollah’s positions negatively affected “our Arab brothers or target the security and stability of their countries”.
Although the statement did not specify which Middle Eastern countries he meant, one can deduce that Israel and Saudi Arabia were among them given the Iranian Regime’s consistent targeting of the two countries through proxy groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
Resignation
Earlier this month, Hariri announced his resignation as Prime Minister in a televised statement from Saudi Arabia. On November 4, the same day as the Houthis attacked Riyadh International Airport under the Iranian Regime’s command, Hariri said that he could not effectively govern a country which was so controlled by Hezbollah (and therefore by the Iranian Regime). He also expressed fear for his life, believing that Hezbollah and the Iranian Regime were plotting to assassinate him as they did to his father in 2005.
Lebanese President Michael Aoun (a key Hezbollah ally) accused Saudi Arabia of kidnapping Hariri and stated that he would not accept his resignation until he had returned to Lebanon.
This was, of course, denied by both Hariri and the Saudis.
Saad Hariri, returned to his home country late on Tuesday November 20, on the eve of its independence day and after a nearly three-week absence dominated by his surprise resignation.
Saudi Arabia versus Iran
Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran are on different sides in several conflicts across the Middle East, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, with Iran mainly using its terrorist proxy groups to fight its battles.
In Syria, Hezbollah fights for dictator Bashar al-Assad in order to help Iran prop up the ailing Regime. Iran knows that once the Syrian dictator falls, their dictatorship won’t be far behind. As such, they’ve ploughed money, arms, and troops (including child soldiers) into the country to fight alongside Hezbollah.
In Yemen, Iran is backing the Houthi terrorist group and has heavily supplied it with advanced weaponry, including the 80 ballistic missiles that the Houthis have fired on Saudi Arabia since the start of the war in 2015.
