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Lebanese President meets political leaders to solve crisis
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has begun a round of consultations with the country’s political leaders to solve the current political crisis after Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resigned on 4 November.
Hariri gave an interview yesterday to French broadcaster CNews and said that Iran-backed Hezbollah must stop interfering overseas and accept a “neutral” policy to bring an end to Lebanon’s political crisis.
Hariri said: “I don’t want a political party in my government that interferes in Arab countries against other Arab countries. The interference of Iran affects us all. If we want a policy that is good for the region we shouldn’t be interfering.”
Hezbollah has denied supplying weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen but has fighters in both Iraq and Syria and has admitted to sending weapons to Gaza.
Aoun met separately with political leaders, including the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Raad, who later told reporters they discussed “reactivating” the government. After his meeting with the President Christian leader Samir Geagea said, in a reference to Hezbollah, that “disassociation should be in action and not through words, this means actively withdrawing from the region’s conflict”.
In a New York Times interview published last weekend, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the paper that Hariri “is not going to continue providing political cover for a Lebanese government that is essentially controlled by the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah militia, which is essentially controlled by Tehran”.
In Israel yesterday, senior diplomats briefed foreign ambassadors on the current reality in southern Lebanon ahead of the upcoming UN Security Council discussions on the implementation of resolution 1701 scheduled for 29 November.
Israel hopes to encourage UNIFIL to support a more determined and effective implementation of its mandate, both on the ground and in its reporting back to the UN.
According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “The Security Council must not turn a blind eye to the growing Iranian influence in Lebanon and the extensive military build-up of Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon, as they pose a threat to the stability of the country”.