November 10, 2017
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigned Saturday with a harsh slap at Iran, accusing it of stoking tensions in Lebanon and other countries.
Iran responded by saying the surprise resignation was part of an American-Israeli-Saudi plot to stoke tensions in the entire region.
Hariri resigned in a televised broadcast that he very oddly made from Saudi Arabia, not Lebanon. In that speech, he accused Iran of sowing “fear and destruction” in several countries, including Lebanon.
He said he was stepping down because he feared for his life. He did not accuse Iran directly of plotting his death, but many assumed that, given his attack on Iran while saying he feared for his life.
Hariri’s father, Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, was assassinated in 2005 in a massive bombing in downtown Beirut. No one has claimed responsibility, but the Iran-backed Hezb-ollah is widely blamed.
Many expect Saad Al-Hariri’s sudden departure to plunge Lebanon into a new political crisis that will further feed the regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Hariri’s resignation came one day after he met in Beirut with Ali-Akbar Velayati, senior foreign policy adviser to Khamenehi. Hariri reportedly flew to Saudi Arabia immediately after that meeting. It isn’t known if that meeting had anything to do with the resignation, although there is obviously much speculation that it did.
Hariri said in his speech, “I want to say to Iran and its followers that they are losing in their interference in the affairs of Arab nations, and our nation will rise as it did before—and the hands that were extended to it with evil will be cut off.”
But most Arabs do not see Iran as losing at the moment; rather they see it as winning, now that its forces have largely prevailed in Syria.
Hariri said Iran “sows sedition, devastation and destruction in any place it settles in.”
Following the resignation Saturday, Iranian politicians lined up to denounce Hariri’s charges against Iran.
“Hariri’s resignation was done with planning by [US President] Donald Trump and Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia,” said Hossain Shaikholeslam, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said Hariri’s departure was aimed at creating tension in Lebanon and the region.
He said Hariri had repeated “unrealistic and unfounded accusations” and had aligned himself with “those who want ill for the region,” singling out Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US.
He didn’t explain why Hariri should wish to foment tension in Lebanon where he was prime minister from 2009 to 2011 and again from last December to Saturday.
In his resignation speech, Hariri said, “When I took office, I promised you that I would seek to unite the Lebanese and end political division…. But, unfortunately, this pushed Iran and its allies to more interference in our internal affairs.”
He said, “We are living in a climate similar to the atmosphere that prevailed before the assassination of martyr Rafik al-Hariri. I have sensed what is being plotted covertly is to target my life.” Contrary to some news accounts, he did not say he had survived a recent assassination attempt. And he did not say whom he thought was plotting his death.
The Lebanese army issued a statement saying intelligence in its possession in addition to ongoing arrests and investigations had not revealed “the presence of any plan for assassinations in the country.”
Rafik al-Hariri was killed by a bomb in 2005 in an attack widely blamed on the Shia Hezb-ollah, which is very tightly linked to Iran and which puts up posters pledging faith to Khamenehi. Several Hezbollah members are being tried in absentia for the assassination by a UN tribunal in The Hague.
After taking office last December, Hariri promised a “new era for Lebanon” after two years of political deadlock.
The coalition government he led brought together almost all of the main political parties in Lebanon, including Hezbollah. Some think that is key to his resignation.
Sami Sader, head of the Beirut-based Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, said the resignation is aimed at reducing Hezbollah’s say in Lebanon. “It’s part of an all-out Saudi confrontation with Iran,” he said.
Hazem al-Amin, a Lebanese writer who follows regional affairs, said Hariri’s resignation is “completely a Saudi step” that should be seen in the context of rising Sunni opposition to Hezbollah and growing feelings that Iran must be confronted and stopped.
Hariri’s father made a fortune as a contractor living in Saudi Arabia. Saad Hariri, now 47, was born in Saudi Arabia and the entire family has been considered very close to the establishment in Saudi Arabia. He holds dual Saudi-Lebanese citizenship.
Saad was reared in Saudi Arabia. He graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and then returned to Saudi Arabia to manage part of the family business until his father’s 2005 assassination.
Under a delicate sectarian power-sharing agreement, Leba-non’s prime minister must be Sunni, the president a Maronite Christian and parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim.
Parliament elected octo- genarian Michel Aoun, a Hezb-ollah ally, as president a year ago to end a two-year political impasse. Analysts said at the time that his election came with Saudi consent.
In a statement after Hariri’s resignation, Aoun said it was important to preserve national unity and political stability.
Riad Kahwaji, head of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said Aoun has since moved closer to Hezbollah instead of taking a more neutral position as Saudi leaders had hoped. Hariri’s decision shows the kingdom will not accept the current balance of power, he argued.
“The political scene in Lebanon now and the way things will proceed reflect the Cold War that’s heating up between Iran and Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Hani Sabra, founder of Alef Advisory, a Middle East political risk practice, said, “The suddenness, tone, and content of Hariri’s resignation announcement demonstrates that it is not only potentially destabilizing for Lebanon, but that it is also potentially a more serious, negative regional development.”
Under Hariri, the cabinet passed laws including oil and gas decrees for offshore exploration. Rival factions in parliament also approved Lebanon’s first budget in 12 years. The resignation will likely hobble an economy already struggling with the impact of the Syrian war, which cut major trade routes and brought more than one million refugees into the country.
Hassan Nasrollah, the cleric who heads Hezbollah, appeared stunned by Hariri’s departure.
“So far, we have reached the conclusion that nobody in Lebanon knows what the real reason behind Hariri’s resignation is and everybody has been taken by surprise in this regard,” Nasrollah said.
“Some people in Lebanon say the prime minister has been angry with some people and currents, but these remarks are not accurate and the main reason behind his resignation should be sought in Saudi Arabia,” Nasrollah concluded.
The Hezbollah leader said the resignation might have been a result of the power struggle in Saudi Arabia or the result of the fact that Riyadh was not satisfied with his performance and had decided to see another person in his place.
But Nasrollah totally dismissed the talk popular in Iran that Israel was involved.
Refuting claims that Hariri’s resignation was plotted by Israel to wage a new war on Lebanon, Nasrollah said, if Israel wanted to wage a war, it would do so on the basis of its own calculations and it would not have anything to do with Hariri’s resignation.