Lebanon\u2019s powerful Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday accused Saudi Arabia of detaining prime minister Saad Hariri and of asking the Shiite movement\u2019s arch-foe Israel to launch strikes.<\/p>\n
Hariri\u2019s sudden resignation on November 4 in a statement made from Riyadh took the Lebanese political class by surprise and has sparked international concern.<\/p>\n
The United States warned against using the tiny country as a \u201cvenue for proxy conflicts\u201d and the United Nations said it was \u201cessential no new conflict erupt in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n
France called for Hariri to have \u201call his freedom of movement\u201d amid rumours he was being held against his will.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe head of the Lebanese government is detained in Saudi Arabia, he is banned from returning to Lebanon until now,\u201d Nasrallah said in a televised address.<\/p>\n
Hariri\u2019s situation was not completely clear but calls, including from his Lebanese political rivals, mounted for Saudi Arabia to guarantee the premier\u2019s freedom of movement.<\/p>\n
The 47-year-old announced his resignation on November 4 in a surprise move that coincided with a sweeping purge of the Saudi kingdom\u2019s elite, ostensibly over embezzlement accusations.<\/p>\n
Hariri, who also holds Saudi nationality, did not say when he would return to Lebanon, where President Michel Aoun has yet to formally accept his resignation.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued on Friday after a meeting with a senior Saudi diplomat, Aoun insisted Hariri should return to Lebanon.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Aoun met Saudi charge d\u2019affaires Walid Bukhari and informed him that the circumstances in which Mr. Hariri\u2019s resignation took place were unacceptable,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
The president \u201ccalled for the return to Lebanon of the head of the government\u201d.<\/p>\n
Aoun, whose political ally Hezbollah is a fierce critic of Riyadh, \u201cvoiced his concern over what is being said\u201d about Hariri\u2019s current status in Saudi Arabia and demanded a \u201cclarification\u201d.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday described Hariri as \u201ca strong partner\u201d and warned against \u201cany party, within or outside Lebanon, using Lebanon as a venue for proxy conflicts or in any manner contributing to instability in that country\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States strongly supports the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Lebanon and of its political institutions\u201d and opposes \u201cany actions that could threaten that stability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country has close ties with both Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, made a surprise visit to Riyadh late Thursday after a trip to the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
On Friday, a spokesman for France\u2019s foreign ministry said: \u201cWe wish Mr. Saad Hariri to have all his freedom of movement and to be fully able to play the essential role that is his in Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on French radio he thought Hariri was \u201cfree to move around\u201d, despite most of the Lebanese political class implying he was de facto under house arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went to Abu Dhabi the day before President Macron\u2019s visit (on Wednesday) so we think he\u2019s free to move around,\u201d Le Drian said.<\/p>\n
Nasrallah, whose party is the only organisation that did not disarm after the 1975-1990 civil war and now has an arsenal that outstrips Lebanon\u2019s own armed forces, accused Saudi Arabia of seeking to incite conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most dangerous thing is inciting Israel to strike Lebanon,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m talking about information that Saudi Arabia has asked Israel to strike Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nasrallah, whose movement Hariri has repeatedly said should lay down its arms, also warned that his movement, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006, was stronger than ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are stronger today, we warn them again misguided calculations, against any knee-jerk initiative,\u201d he said, adding however that his party saw any Israeli attack as being unlikely at this stage.<\/p>\n
The UN chief, Antonio Guterres, also said: \u201cIt is essential that no new conflict erupt in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are indeed very worried and we hope that we won\u2019t see an escalation in the region that would have tragic consequences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lebanon\u2019s powerful Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday accused Saudi Arabia of detaining prime minister Saad Hariri and of asking the Shiite movement\u2019s arch-foe Israel to launch strikes. Hariri\u2019s sudden resignation on November 4 in a statement made from Riyadh took the Lebanese political class by surprise and has sparked international concern. The United States […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9888,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9886\/revisions\/9888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}