Lebanese Officials Widely Reject Nasrallah's Attack on Saudi Arabia

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. (Reuters)
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. (Reuters)
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Lebanese Officials Widely Reject Nasrallah's Attack on Saudi Arabia

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. (Reuters)
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. (Reuters)

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's escalating stances against the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia were widely condemned in Lebanon.

President Michel Aoun said he was committed to Lebanon's official stance, which he reiterated during his latest address to the Lebanese people.

In it, he underscored his keenness on Lebanon's Arab and international relations, especially with the Gulf, led by Saudi Arabia.

"This keenness must be mutual because it favors Lebanon and the Gulf countries alike," he remarked.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement late on Monday that Nasrallah's stances "do not represent the position of the Lebanese government and the vast majority of the Lebanese people."

"It is not in Lebanon's interest to offend any Arab country, especially the nations of the Gulf," he added.

"We have long called for adopting a policy of dissociation from Arab disputes and called against harming Lebanon's ties with the Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia," he continued.

"This is why we have demanded that foreign policy be addressed at the dialogue table to avert Lebanon consequences it cannot tolerate," Mikati stressed.

"We have called for Hezbollah to become part of the diverse Lebanese fabric, but its leadership goes against this approach with statements that primarily harm the Lebanese people and Lebanon's ties with its brothers," he lamented.

"For God's sake, have mercy on Lebanon and the Lebanese people and stop the hateful sectarian and political rhetoric."

Addressing Nasrallah, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said: "History won't have mercy on you."

In a tweet, he added: "Mr. Nasrallah, your insistence on antagonizing Saudi Arabia and its leadership is another example of how you gamble with Lebanon, its role and interests of its people."

"Saudi Arabia and all Gulf countries have embraced the Lebanese people and provided them with job opportunities and the opportunities for a dignified life. Those who threaten the Lebanese people's livelihood, stability and progress are those who want the Lebanese state to be a hostage to the state of Iran and its expansion in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon," he remarked.

"I know that you will not back down from your provocations and insults against the Arab Gulf countries, but everyone knows that history will not have mercy on a party that has sold its Arabism, stability of its nation and interests of its people for a paltry role in the wars in the region," Hariri continued.

Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Nasrallah's offense against Saudi Arabia during the critical time Lebanon is enduring is like a "crime against Lebanon and the Lebanese people and it jeopardizes their national interests."

He described Nasrallah's speech as "Iranian in every sense of the word."

"It is as if he is expressing Iran's loss of patience with the current conflict and tussle with the United States at the Vienna negotiations and Iran's diminished role in Yemen, its clash with the Arab Gulf countries, and weakened project in Iraq and Syria after it was confronted with human and geographic facts on the ground," he noted.

"Any Lebanese person, who takes into account the interests of his country and fellow citizens, does not act like Nasrallah during such difficult times," he added.

Former President Michel Suleiman slammed Nasrallah's statements, saying the majority of the Lebanese people reject his position and believe that they incur great harm on Lebanon and destroy its ties with Saudi Arabia "that has loved Lebanon without wanting anything in return."

Kataeb MP Elias Hankash mocked Nasrallah's claim that Saudi Arabia was taking the Lebanese people residing in the Kingdom as "hostages".

"The hostages in the Gulf are planning for the future, while in the land of resistance they reside in humiliation," he remarked.

In a tweet, he said he asked "his friends (hostages) in the Gulf about their daily suffering in a country that is detaining them and the injustice they are suffering, and I found that they are living a peaceful dignified life that remains abreast of the changes of the current age and they plan a better future for their children.

"In the land of resistance and (victories), they live between life and death. They are poor, humiliated and worried about their future," he lamented.



Netanyahu ‘Takes Revenge’ on Macron in Lebanon

 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
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Netanyahu ‘Takes Revenge’ on Macron in Lebanon

 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)
 A photo of Netanyahu and Macron during their meeting in Jerusalem in October 2023 (AFP)

Israel’s insistence that France can not be a member of the international committee that will monitor a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon is due to a series of French practices that have disturbed Israel recently, political sources in Tel Aviv revealed.
These practices are most notably attributed to the French judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, who has joined other judges to unanimously issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the sources revealed.
“The Israeli government is following with concern the French role at The Hague,” they said, noting that veteran French lawyer Gilles Devers led a team of 300 international lawyers of various nationalities who volunteered to accuse Israel of “committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
According to the Israeli Maariv newspaper, Israeli officials believe that Devers, who signed the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Galant, would not have dared to do so without having received a green light from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Israeli sources also mentioned other reasons for Israel’s anger at France, such as the government’s decision to bar Israeli firms from exhibiting at the Euronaval arms show near Paris earlier this month.
French officials have repeatedly said that Paris is committed to Israel's security and point out that its military helped defend Israel after Iranian attacks in April and earlier this month.
Paris has so far also refused to recognize the Palestinian state. But the Israeli government is not satisfied. It wants France to follow the United States and blindly support its war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Tel Aviv also feels incredibly confident that France should be punished, and therefore, decided that Paris could not participate in the Lebanese ceasefire agreement, knowing that the Israeli government itself has traveled to Paris several times begging for its intervention, especially during the war on Lebanon.
Meanwhile, an air of optimism has emerged in Israel around the chances for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon following negotiations led by US envoy Amos Hochstein.
But any optimism relies on Netanyahu’s final decision. The PM is still conducting talks with his friends and allies of the far right who reject the ceasefire agreement and instead, demand that Lebanese citizens not be allowed to return to their villages on the border with Israel. They also request that a security belt be turned into a permanently depopulated and mined zone.
Hochstein Talks
Meanwhile, political sources in Israel claim that what is holding up a ceasefire deal so far is Lebanon. According to Israel's Channel 12, Hochstein expressed a “firm stance” during his talks with the Lebanese side. The envoy delivered clear terms that were passed on to Hezbollah, which the channel said “led to significant progress” in the talks.
Israeli officials said that Tel Aviv is moving towards a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon with Hezbollah in the coming days.
The channel said that during his late visit to Tel Aviv, coming from Beirut after talks with Speaker Nabih Barri, Hochstein said, “I placed before them (Lebanese officials) a final warning, and it seems to have been effective.”
Iran Obstacle
Despite the “positive atmosphere,” informed diplomatic sources pointed to a major obstacle: Iran.
Channel 12 quoted the sources as saying that Lebanon has not yet received the final approval required from Iran, which has significant influence over Hezbollah.

According to the draft proposal, the Lebanese Army must be redeployed to the south and carry out a comprehensive operation to remove weapons from villages. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will “supervise and monitor the implementation of the operation.”
Channel 12 said Israel believes that such details could still derail the agreement. It also said that Hezbollah could violate the truce.
“In such cases, Israel would have to conduct military operations inside the Lebanese territory,” the channel reported, adding that “one of the unsettled issues is related to the committee that will oversee the implementation of the agreement between Israel and Lebanon.”
The sources said Tel Aviv “insists that France is not part of the agreement, nor part of the committee that will oversee its implementation.”