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A Zaidi Shiite movement operating in Yemen. It seeks to establish a democratic government in Yemen.
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represents the second largest denomination of Islam. Shiites believe Ali (peace be upon him) to be prophet"s successor in the Caliphate.
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Axis of Resistances refers to countries and movements with common political goal, i.e., resisting against Zionist regime, America and other western powers. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Palestine are considered as the Axis of Resistance.
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A regional political u n i o n consisting of Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq.
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Taliban is a Sunni fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan. It was founded by Mohammed Omar in 1994.
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Wahhabism & Extremism

Wahhabism is an extremist pseudo-Sunni movement, which labels non-Wahhabi Muslims as apostates thus paving the way for their bloodshed.
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Kurds are an ethnic group in the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region, which spans adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They are an Iranian people and speak the Kurdish languages, which form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian branch of Iranian languages.
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NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.
Islamic Awakening

Islamic Awakening

Refers to a revival of the Islam throughout the world, that began in 1979 by Iranian Revolution that established an Islamic republic.
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Al-Qaeda

A militant Sunni organization founded by Osama bin Laden at some point between 1988 and 1989
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Analysis

Lebanon a New Setting for Bin Salman’s Self-Harm

Saturday 6 November 2021
Lebanon a New Setting for Bin Salman’s Self-Harm

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Alwaght- It was largely unthinkable that a leaked audio file of the past of the Lebanese Information Minister George Kurdahi about his stance on the Yemeni war and his praise of the Yemeni resistance to the Saudi-led would lead to sch a deep and wide crisis in the Riyadh-Beirut relations. The Saudis not only cut off economic and political ties with Lebanon and imposed a bilateral travel ban but also encouraged the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain to follow suit.

There is a question: What would be the outcomes of Saudi Arabia flexing its muscles to Lebanon?

Making Kurdahi a hero heard globally

Since 2014, Saudi Arabia has had a licentious foreign policy by a young but naïve ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, who is thirsty for power and being seen. His taking some emotional actions without a foresight of their consequences have been a source of troubles for the Saudi royalty. His assassination of his critic Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 was in the style of the gangster movies of the Hollywood. His largely noisy reforms also were detrimental to his image at home and abroad. The Yemen war is another example where Riyadh is trying very hard not to allow the spread of critical voices in the Arab world against the crimes committed in this futile seven-year military campaign.

Like the murder of the Khashoggi, which was way costlier than silencing a journalist for Riyadh and bin Salman as the heir to the throne, the uproarious measures of Saudi Arabia against Kurdahi over the past few days only brought the world media attention to the logical and courageous comments of this Lebanese minister. Actually, Riyadh not only did not intimidate the critics of devastating and ruthless Yemen war but also it helped his voiced heard even better given the massive circulation of the news on the social media. In other words, Kurdahi is now regarded as a hero whose voice against the Saudi oppression and crimes in Yemen cannot be silenced.

Riyadh’s gamble to topple PM Mikati

The fact that Saudi Arabia has been exerting influence and pressure on Lebanese politicians for years to weaken Hezbollah in the Lebanese political arena and remove Hezbollah from the cabinet formation process is undeniable. The high popular legitimacy of Hezbollah, which is caused by its defense of the national security and sovereignty in the face of the Israeli hostility and a source uplift to national pride, has been alarming to its enemies. Although the current critical economic conditions are a result of decades of wrong policies of the Saudi and Western-backed parties in Lebanon, the Western-Arab-Israeli camp are seeking to paint the current economic predicament an effect of Hezbollah presence in the government. Western sanctions on Lebanese figures and banks with links to Hezbollah or fabricating the documents about the devastating Beirut port explosions are precisely driven by anti-Hezbollah intentions and meant to aggravate the crisis in Lebanon.

Now that amid a mass of foreign obstructionist efforts to perpetuate the political crisis the cooperation of political parties, with the centrality of Hezbollah, has led to the end of a political stalemate and the formation of a cabinet, Riyadh is striving for collapse of Mikati's fledgling government.

So far, Mikati has tried to ease the tensions by persuading Saudi Arabia and other sanctioning countries to soften their tone, in a show of difference between his views and those of his minister Kurdahi. On the other hand, Mikati does not want to give up to the Saudi pressures and resign in disgrace because this will damage his legacy of three terms in office as PM. He knows that his surrender to Riyadh would be considered damaging to national pride by public opinion.

Bin Salman is resorting to a political gamble again and this time can bring him a defeat heavier than those brought by Qatar crisis. It should not be ignored that Qatar, Oman, Jordan, and Egypt, which are part of the so-called Saudi coalition in Yemen war, did not side with Saudi Arabia in the boycott of Lebanon. This reality means that even forcing the Lebanese government to expel Kurdahi from the cabinet will not bring honor and respect to Riyadh. To conclude, the current controversy has been nothing but disgraceful to Saudi Arabia.  

Tags :

Lebanon Saudi Kurdahi Yemen War Crisis

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