By Valérie LEROUX, Katy Lee (AFP)  – From global warming to Iran’s nuclear deal, France’s Emmanuel Macron has already intervened in a series of diplomatic quagmires — and now finds himself pursuing an active role in Lebanon’s crisis. He and his ministers have held a flurry of talks with players shaping the turmoil, with Macron jetting to Saudi Arabia last week for surprise talks with the crown prince. He said France had a role to play in bringing peace to a region suffering soaring tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are already backing opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Like other European governments, France is pushing for Lebanese premier Saad Hariri to return following his shock resignation in Saudi Arabia on November 4 and rumours he is being held there against his will. “France is acting so that all parties exercising an influence in Lebanon commit to the situation going back to normal as quickly as possible,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Tuesday. Hariri himself has sought to downplay the situation, tweeting: “Guys, I am perfectly fine, and God willing I will return in the coming days.” But Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who met with Macron on Tuesday, told a press conference in Paris: “The only thing that will prove he is free to return, is his return.” Lebanon is caught between Sunni giant Saudi Arabia and the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah, close to Riyadh’s arch-rival Iran — which Hariri has accused of controlling his country. – Strong relationships – France had mandate power over both Lebanon and Syria during the first half of the 20th century. Though the room for manoeuvre is tight, Paris has been using strong regional relationships to push for Hariri’s return. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is heading to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for further talks. “What gives us our power — including in comparison with the United States — is that we talk to everybody,” said Denis Bauchard, Middle East expert at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). “France has a special relationship in Lebanon with the three (religious) communities, including contact with the Shiites,” he said. He added that France enjoys “historically good relations with Saudi Arabia”, even if Paris has seen hopes for lucrative arms deals dashed. French ties with Tehran have also warmed since the 2015 nuclear deal, he noted. The Lebanese crisis is not the first time since Macron’s election in May in which the young French president has sought an active role in a tense diplomatic situation. He has repeatedly said he wants to keep the Iranian deal from collapsing despite opposition from US President Donald Trump. He has also refused to invite Trump to a Paris climate summit next month following Washington’s withdrawal from the historic international pact to fight global warming. And he organised a meeting between Libya’s rival leaders in Paris in July at which they agreed a conditional ceasefire and elections for next year.

– Damage limitation –

Macron’s apparent desire to place France at the heart of international diplomacy coincides with “a worrying American policy, Britain being eclipsed by Brexit, and a certain withdrawal by Germany due to internal politics”, said Bauchard. But Stephane Malsagne, a Lebanon specialist at Paris’s Sciences-Po university, said France was a relative “lightweight in the Lebanese political game, which is essentially driven today by Tehran and Riyadh”. Paris has “lost a lot of ground” as a weapons supplier to the Saudis and is awaiting financial support from Riyadh for the anti-jihadist military force that it is spearheading in Africa’s Sahel, he said. France’s relationships in the region mean it can help to smooth tensions and limit the damage from the latest Saudi-Iranian power struggle, said Ziad Majed of the American University of Paris. “But to find a sustainable solution and avoid the worst, it’s much more up to Washington,” said the French-Lebanese political analyst.

Lebanese patriarch meets Saudi king in historic visit

RIYADH, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Lebanon’s Christian Maronite Patriarch met Saudi Arabian King Salman on Tuesday in an historic visit to the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom which bans the practice of other religions but says it wants to open up more to the world. He will also meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who in addition to pushing radical economic reforms has pledged to relax his country’s strict social norms and revive “a middle-of-the-road, moderate Islam open to the world and all religions, traditions and people”. An official visit to the kingdom by such a senior non-Muslim cleric is a rare act of religious openness for Saudi Arabia, which hosts the holiest sites in Islam but does not tolerate non-Muslims practising their faith publicly, forcing Christians to risk arrest by praying in private homes. Flanked by fellow Catholic clerics wearing vestments and big gold crosses, Rai discussed with King Salman religious tolerance and combating extremism, the Saudi state news agency said. He also met later with Saad al-Hariri, a Saudi ally who resigned as prime minister on Nov. 4 in a move Lebanese political leaders ascribed to pressure from Riyadh. Hariri said his resignation had been prompted by an assassination plot. He accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the region. Prince Mohammed, the 32-year-old son of the king, has taken a harder line on Iran since taking on wide-ranging authorities over the past two years including defence minister. He has also pushed for more social freedoms in a country where authority has rested on an enduring accommodation between the royal family and clerics who control the hardline Wahhabi strain of Islam that originated in Saudi Arabia. Already the powers of the religious police have been curbed, enforcement of gender segregation has been relaxed and women have been granted some more freedoms, including the right to drive cars starting next year. Rai is now the second Christian patriarch to visit the country, after another such trip in 1975. His trip was planned before the current political crisis in Lebanon and he said the original invitation had been extended in 2013.

While symbols of Christianity are banned in Saudi Arabia, Al Rai was seen openly wearing a cross and being greeted by one of the kingdom’s most influential ministers, a leading Saudi minister, Thamer Al Sabhan. The photos hint at the rapid change under way in the kingdom under Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. On top of his promise to revolutionise the oil-dependent Saudi economy, and reboot a traditionally cautious foreign policy, the 32-year-old also says he’ll change the religious basis of Saudi society — stamping out extremism and ushering in a “moderate” version of Islam. This visit also comes at an important time where Saudi Arabia is moving fast to collect allies to help combat the rapid and aggressive expansionism of Iran in the region. Visits by leaders of religious orders are rare in Saudi Arabia, where the practice of any religion besides Islam is officially illegal. Mr Al Rai’s trip was the first to Saudi by a Christian patriarch in more than 40 years, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Lebanon’s Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, head of the Maronite Church, met on Tuesday with Saad Hariri, who announced his resignation as Lebanon’s prime minister from Riyadh on Nov. 4.  Saad Hariri said he would return to Lebanon within days as his office refuted claims from an Iranian official regarding his last meeting in Lebanon before he resigned as prime minister. Writing on Twitter, Mr Hariri said he was fine and urged Lebanese to remain calm. He said his family would stay in Saudi Arabia, calling it “their country”, from where he announced his resignation last week. “Patriarch Bechara Al Rahi’s … visit stresses the kingdom’s approach for peaceful coexistence, closeness and openness for all sections of Arabic people,” Saudi Gulf Affairs minister, Thamer Al Sabhan, said on Twitter.