Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri rescinded his resignation on Tuesday and said all members of the government had agreed to stay out of conflicts in Arab countries. . The Lebanese government said in a statement read by Mr Hariri: “The cabinet thanks its leader [Hariri] for his position and for revoking his resignation.” “All [the government’s] political components decide to dissociate themselves from all conflicts, disputes, wars or the internal affairs of brother Arab countries, in order to preserve Lebanon’s economic and political relations,” Mr Hariri said. His resignation offer thrust Lebanon back into a tussle between Riyadh and its main regional foe, Iran. The announcement came following a consensus deal reached with rival political parties in the course of coalition talks, widely seen as move to isolate Hezbollah from the current government. For this, he has made clear, he has one person to thank: Emmanuel Macron, the, Lebanese officials said Saudi Arabia had coerced Mr Hariri, a long-time ally of the kingdom, into resigning and held him there against his will until an intervention by France led to his return to Lebanon. Saudi Arabia denies this. Iran backs the powerful armed Shia group, Hizbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government and which Saudi Arabia accuses of sowing strife in the Arab world with support from Iran. The cabinet meeting on Tuesday where the statement was agreed was the first since Mr Hariri’s resignation plunged the country into political crisis.
by the Atltantic- ANNABELLE TIMSIT -This morning’s announcement was yet another strange moment in an eventful month for Lebanon. The saga’s cast of characters alone would make for great television: The new Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who allegedly orchestrated Hariri’s resignation from Riyadh, and proceeded to arrest some 500 people on corruption charges; the Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian and a domestic ally of the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah, who claimed that Hariri had been kidnapped by the Saudis; Hariri himself, a dual Saudi-Lebanese citizen who went to Riyadh without notifying his own advisers and has extensive business holdings in, and personal ties to, the Gulf kingdom; and, finally, Macron, who convinced Mohammed bin Salman to let Hariri come to France (where he stayed in the official presidential residence for three days) and, last week, to go back to Lebanon, ending a three-week-long standoff between the Saudis, the Lebanese, and the Iranians.
This morning’s announcement was yet another strange moment in an eventful month for Lebanon. The saga’s cast of characters alone would make for great television: The new Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who allegedly orchestrated Hariri’s resignation from Riyadh, and proceeded to arrest some 500 people on corruption charges; the Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian and a domestic ally of the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah, who claimed that Hariri had been kidnapped by the Saudis; Hariri himself, a dual Saudi-Lebanese citizen who went to Riyadh without notifying his own advisers and has extensive business holdings in, and personal ties to, the Gulf kingdom; and, finally, Macron, who convinced Mohammed bin Salman to let Hariri come to France (where he stayed in the official presidential residence for three days) and, last week, to go back to Lebanon, ending a three-week-long standoff between the Saudis, the Lebanese, and the Iranians
Macron’s decision to insert himself into this crisis surprised many. France, after all, is no longer the great power of the region, as it once was. But his motivations for doing so were rooted in a shared history, one based on mutual economic and strategic interests. Lebanon was a French protectorate from 1920 to 1944 and retains strong economic, cultural, and political ties with its former colonial power (French is Lebanon’s second language, after Arabic). Lebanon hosts a French military base and 900 French soldiers under UN mandate. France is one of Lebanon’s largest trading partners, and Lebanon is the biggest beneficiary of French foreign aid in the region. Lebanon is also a crucial partner in the refugee crisis and the fight against the Islamic State. There are good reasons that Macron is deeply invested in Lebanon’s stability.
For Hariri, Macron’s backing gives his weakened government a lifeline. Burdened by an widening public deficit, an unprecedented influx of refugees into the country, and the Syrian civil war at its border, Lebanon’s economy has worried analysts and elicited comparisons to that of Greece in 2009, at the verge of the eurozone crisis. In September, after Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s visit to Paris, Macron pledged to organize two international conferences, one in support of the Lebanese army and the other for potential investors. He has also maintained France’s pledge (made by his predecessor, François Hollande) of €100 million to help strengthen the Lebanese military over three years. Macron’s support, in short, helps buy Hariri legitimacy, both in Lebanon and in the international arena, at a time when his country has become a battleground in the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
