The diplomatic crisis between Beirut and several Gulf countries worsened on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia deeming "
useless
" to deal with Lebanon as long as it is "
dominated
" by pro-Iranian Hezbollah, and the Emirates calling on their nationals to leave this country in the midst of economic collapse.
Read also Lebanon punished by Saudi Arabia
"
Hezbollah's domination of the political system in Lebanon worries us and makes it unnecessary for Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries to deal with this country,
" Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan told the channel. Al-Arabiya television station.
The diplomatic crisis was triggered after comments by Lebanese Minister of Information, George Kordahi, criticizing the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been intervening since 2015 at the head of a military coalition to support the government in the face of the Houthi rebels close to Iran.
In a television program dated August 5 and broadcast last Monday, Mr. Kordahi, who was not yet a minister, described
the intervention of the coalition in Yemen as
"
absurd
", judging that the insurgents were defending themselves "in the
face of to external aggression
”.
His remarks prompted retaliatory measures from Saudi Arabia, a Gulf heavyweight and Iran's regional rival, which on Friday recalled its ambassador to Lebanon, demanded the departure of the Lebanese ambassador and decided to stop all imports from this country.
Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have also decided to expel heads of Lebanese diplomatic missions and to recall their ambassadors or charge d'Affaires to Beirut in "
solidarity
" with Saudi Arabia, the former political and financial backer of Lebanon. .
The Emirates, which participate as well as Bahrain in the military coalition intervening in Yemen, also called on Sunday their nationals in Lebanon to leave the country "
as soon as possible
".
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati had distanced himself from the words of Mr. Kordahi, appointed to the government by a Christian party allied with Hezbollah, and implicitly called on him to resign as he relied on potential financial aid from the rich Gulf monarchies to revive the collapsing economy of Lebanon.
Minister Kordahi refuses to apologize and stressed on Saturday that his words reflected his "
personal opinion
" before his appointment as minister.
On Sunday, he said his resignation was "
out of the question
".
Relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia had already been strained in recent years, with Riyadh accusing Beirut of failing to contain Hezbollah, a heavyweight in Lebanese politics and an unwavering ally of Iran.
A "
Hezbollah hegemony over Lebanon
"
Already in May, the foreign minister of the previous government, Charbel Wehbé, resigned after calling the Gulf countries “
Bedouin
” and accusing them of links with the jihadist group Islamic State.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal ben Farhan assured Sunday that "
there was no crisis (between his country and) Lebanon
" but that "it
is an internal crisis in Lebanon caused by Iranian hegemony
”.
He stressed that "
the problem went well beyond the simple comments of a minister
", denouncing a "
hegemony of Hezbollah over Lebanon and the inability of the Lebanese government to get the country out of the crisis
".
In Yemen, where Riyadh accuses Hezbollah of having trained the Houthis and supporting them, Mr. Kordahi's words have been welcomed by the rebels.
Portraits of the Lebanese minister were displayed on Sunday in the streets of Sana'a under the control of the insurgents, with the caption: "
Yes, George, the war in Yemen is absurd
".
Traders also told AFP that the Houthis had renamed the commercial street Ryad after the Lebanese minister.
Launched in 2014, the war plunged Yemen into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world according to the UN.
Tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians, have been killed and millions displaced according to international NGOs.
The parties to the conflict have been accused by the United Nations of abuses and violations and abuses of international and humanitarian law.
