{"id":1694,"date":"2017-11-12T11:40:42","date_gmt":"2017-11-12T12:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.com\/how-saudi-arabia-turned-on-lebanons-hariri\/"},"modified":"2017-11-12T11:40:42","modified_gmt":"2017-11-12T12:40:42","slug":"how-saudi-arabia-turned-on-lebanons-hariri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/how-saudi-arabia-turned-on-lebanons-hariri\/","title":{"rendered":"How Saudi Arabia turned on Lebanon's Hariri"},"content":{"rendered":"

madaresharghi<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

From the moment Saad al-Hariri\u2019s plane touched down in Saudi Arabia on Friday Nov. 3, he was in for a surprise.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n

\n\tThere was no lineup of Saudi princes or ministry officials, as would typically greet a prime minister on an official visit to King Salman, senior sources close to Hariri and top Lebanese political and security officials said. His phone was confiscated, and the next day he was forced to resign as prime minister in a statement broadcast by a Saudi-owned TV channel.<\/p>\n

\n\tSources close to Hariri say Saudi Arabia has concluded that the prime minister \u2013 a longtime Saudi ally and son of late prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005 \u2013 had to go because he was unwilling to confront Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

\n\tMultiple Lebanese sources say Riyadh hopes to replace Saad Hariri with his older brother Bahaa as Lebanon\u2019s top Sunni politician. Bahaa is believed to be in Saudi Arabia and members of the Hariri family have been asked to travel there to pledge allegiance to him, but have refused, the sources say.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen Hariri\u2019s plane landed in Riyadh, he got the message immediately that something was wrong,\u201d a Hariri source told Reuters. \u201cThere was no one was waiting for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi Arabia has dismissed suggestions it forced Hariri to resign and says he is a free man. Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the circumstances of his arrival, whether his phone had been taken, or whether the kingdom was planning to replace him with his brother.<\/p>\n

\n\tHariri has given no public remarks since he resigned and no indication of when he might return to Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNo respect<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHariri was summoned to the kingdom to meet Saudi King Salman in a phone call on Thursday night, Nov. 2.<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore departing, he told his officials they would resume their discussions on Monday. He told his media team he would see them at the weekend in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, where he was due to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum.<\/p>\n

\n\tHariri went to his Riyadh home. His family made their fortune in Saudi Arabia and have long had properties there. The source close to Hariri said the Lebanese leader received a call from a Saudi protocol official on Saturday morning, who asked him to attend a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe waited for about four hours before being presented with his resignation speech to read on television, the source said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrom the moment he arrived they (Saudis) showed no respect for the man,\u201d another senior Lebanese political source said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHariri frequently visits Saudi Arabia. On a trip a few days earlier, Prince Mohammed bin Salman had arranged for him to see senior intelligence officials and Thamer al-Sabhan, the Saudi minister and point man on Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\n\tHariri came back from that trip to Beirut \u201cpleased and relaxed\u201d, sources in his entourage said. He posted a selfie with Sabhan, both of them smiling. He told aides he had heard \u201cencouraging statements\u201d from the crown prince, including a promise to revive a Saudi aid package for the Lebanese Army.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Hariri sources say Hariri believed he had convinced Saudi officials of the need to maintain an entente with Hezbollah for the sake of Lebanon\u2019s stability.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat happened in those meetings, I believe, is that (Hariri) revealed his position on how to deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon: that confrontation would destabilize the country. I think they didn\u2019t like what they heard,\u201d said one of the sources, who was briefed on the meetings.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe source said Hariri told Sabhan not to \u201chold us responsible for something that is beyond my control or that of Lebanon.\u201d But Hariri underestimated the Saudi position on Hezbollah, the source said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor the Saudis it is an existential battle. It\u2019s black and white. We in Lebanon are used to gray,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

\n\tSabhan could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tHariri\u2019s resignation speech shocked his team.<\/p>\n

\n\tLebanese President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, told ambassadors to Lebanon that Saudi Arabia had kidnapped Hariri, a senior Lebanese official said. On Friday, France said it wanted Hariri to have \u201call his freedom of movement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his speech, Hariri said he feared assassination and accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the region, an allegation the two have repeatedly denied. He said the Arab world would \u201ccut off the hands that wickedly extend to it,\u201d language which one source close to him said was not typical of the Lebanese leader.<\/p>\n

\n\tHariri\u2019s resignation came as more than 200 people, including 11 Saudi princes, current and former ministers and tycoons, were arrested in an anti-corruption purge in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\n\tInitially there was speculation Hariri was a target of that campaign because of his family\u2019s business interests. But sources close to the Lebanese leader said his forced resignation was motivated by Saudi efforts to counter Iran.<\/p>\n

\n\tHariri was taken to meet the Saudi king after his resignation. Footage was aired on Saudi TV. He was then flown to Abu Dhabi to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the Saudi crown prince\u2019s main regional ally. He returned to Riyadh and has since received Western ambassadors.<\/p>\n

\n\tSources close to Hariri said the Saudis, while keeping Hariri under house arrest, were trying to orchestrate a change of leadership in Hariri\u2019s Future Movement by installing his elder brother Bahaa, who was overlooked for the top job when their father was killed. The two have been at odds for years.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, the Future Movement said it stood fully behind Hariri as its leader. Hariri\u2019s aide and Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk dismissed the idea Bahaa was being positioned to replace his brother: \u201cWe are not herds of sheep or a plot of land whose ownership can be moved from one person to another. In Lebanon things happen though elections not pledges of allegiances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFamily members, aides and politicians who have contacted Hariri in Riyadh say he is apprehensive and reluctant to say anything beyond \u201cI am fine\u201d. Asked if he is coming back, they say his normal answer is: \u201cInshallah\u201d (God willing).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story is a Reuters exclusive.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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