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News > World

Lebanese PM Hariri Suspends Resignation as Saudi Pressure to Topple Govt Fails

  • Saad al-Hariri who suspended his decision to resign as prime minister reacts as he talks with Lebanese President Michel Aoun while attending a military parade to celebrate the 74th anniversary of Lebanon's independence in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 22, 2017.

    Saad al-Hariri who suspended his decision to resign as prime minister reacts as he talks with Lebanese President Michel Aoun while attending a military parade to celebrate the 74th anniversary of Lebanon's independence in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 22, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Published 22 November 2017
Opinion

PM Saad Hariri appeared to express relief that President Michel Aoun had not accepted the resignation right away.

Lebanon's Saad al-Hariri appears dead-set on rewriting the book of effective leadership by removing “decisiveness” from its contents, an intention made clear after he revoked his mysterious decision to resign as prime minister. The move came at the request of President Michel Aoun, and will hopefully defuse a crisis that pitted regional hegemon Saudi Arabia against world opinion.

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Hariri made his announcement after returning to Beirut for the first time since he quit abruptly on Nov. 4 in a surprise broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Top Lebanese officials claim Riyadh forced him to quit and held he and his immediate family in the kingdom. Riyadh denies this.

At the presidential palace near Beirut, Hariri said he hoped his move would lead to "a responsible dialogue...that deals with divisive issues and their repercussions on Lebanon's relations with Arab brothers."

Hariri said all Lebanese must commit to keeping the country out of regional conflicts, a reference to the popular Hezbollah political party and militia, whom the Saudis accused of assisting the Houthi Ansarullah movement in Yemen. Riyadh has been mired in a quagmire since launching the U.S.-backed siege on the country in 2015.

Hezbollah has vociferously denied the accusations, claiming that they have only fought against the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria and Iran to prevent a spillover of the country's civil war into Lebanon – a move supported by many Lebanese, including the Maronite Christian president of the country.

“Lebanon had distanced itself, but unfortunately, the others did not do so,” Aoun said in a speech Tuesday. “When the war started in Syria, terrorist organizations penetrated our eastern borders … in an attempt to control the villages and towns they could.”

In a clear dig at Saudi Arabia, the top supporter of Syria’s opposition, he continued to ask, “From where did this terrorism come to Lebanon? Who sent it? Who funded? Who armed and trained it?”

Hezbollah's recent string of military victories over the extremist group has caused anxiety in Riyadh, where resentment seethed as they watched their long-time ally Hariri form a coalition government with the Shia resistance group.

Hariri appeared to express relief that Aoun had not accepted the resignation right away. He thanked Aoun on Wednesday for respecting constitutional norms and "his rejection of departing from them under any circumstances".

In his resignation speech, Hariri had cited fear of assassination and attacked Iran along with Hezbollah for “sowing strife” in the Arab world.

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The Saudi move to force the collapse of Lebanon's government appears to have spectacularly backfired, instilling the various Lebanese factions with a spirit of national unity, with even Nasrallah calling for Hariri's safety and return despite the latter's accusations.

The move also led to widespread questioning of the impulsive and thoughtlessly brazen style of Saudi leaders, whose frustrations with Iranian regional hegemony appear to have boiled over into the current crisis.

“It all snowballed in a way that the Saudis didn’t expect,” Lebanese-American journalism professor Mohamad Bazzi told TIME. “It shows that the leadership hadn’t done its homework.”

Hundreds of Hariri supporters packed the streets near his house in central Beirut, waving the blue flag of his Future Movement political party. The Sunni leader told them he would "stay with (them)... to be a line of defense for Lebanon, Lebanon's stability and Lebanon's Arabism".

"His presence in the country alone brings stability," said Manar Akoum, 26, as she stood with the celebrating crowd.

According to Amal Saad, a political science professor at the Lebanese University, the Saudi authorities have "stripped him (Hariri) of his power" but this has given him "another kind of power ... popular legitimacy that he didn't formerly have".

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