Saudi FM Urges Lebanon Leaders to Make 'Real, Serious Change'

Saudi Arabia has called on Lebanon to make long-term changes after a sectarian flare-up, saying the country's leadership has failed to address structural problems.

"Just the events of the last two days show us that Lebanon needs real, serious change," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters on a visit to Washington, a day after Lebanon's worst sectarian violence in years.

Prince Faisal said that Lebanon needed to "address economic but also political structural problems" rather than relying on "short-term fixes."

"The responsibility for that lies squarely on the shoulders of the Lebanese leadership," he said.

"They need to make a real choice to lift Lebanon out of the morass it is in now. We have so far not seen that they have made that decision."

Seven people were killed and dozens were injured as armed clashes erupted during a rally organized by Hizbullah -- which is allied with Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran -- and fellow Shiite movement Amal. They were protesting against a judge investigating last year's devastating port blast.

Hizbullah blamed the rival Lebanese Forces party for what it called a "massacre" and accused the group of seeking a return to the country's brutal civil war. The LF meanwhile accused Hizbullah and Amal supporters of "invading" a neighborhood in Ain el-Remmaneh and attacking its citizens prior to the eruption of gunfire.

Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim state, was the site of negotiations that led to the 1989 Taef agreement that ended the 1975-1990 civil war.