Lebanon's FM Goes to Kuwait with Answers to Gulf Suggestions
Lebanon's foreign minister headed to Kuwait Saturday to deliver answers to a list of policy suggestions made to the country by Arab Gulf nations in an attempt to end an impasse between both sides.
Ahead of his departure, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib made it clear that Lebanon will not disarm Hizbullah group, one of 10 confidence-building measures requested from Beirut.
Relations between impoverished Lebanon and the wealthy Gulf states are at their lowest levels in decades, a crisis triggered late last year when a Lebanese politician spoke critically of the Saudi-led war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.
Following Information Minister George Kordahi's comments, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Beirut and banned all Lebanese imports, affecting hundreds of businesses and cutting off hundreds of millions in foreign currency flows to Lebanon. Several Arab countries followed Saudi Arabia's step.
Bou Habib will attend an Arab foreign ministers meeting in Kuwait on Sunday during which he will hand his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Mohammed Al-Sabah official responses to the Gulf nations' suggestions. Al-Sabah had delivered them personally to Beirut earlier this month.
"I am not going to hand over Hizbullah's weapons nor end Hizbullah's existence. This is out of the question in Lebanon," Bou Habib told satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera, calling the group a "Lebanese party par excellence" that is active in the government but does not dominate politics in Lebanon.
"We hope to have excellent relations as in the past" with Gulf nations, Bou Habib said, adding that Lebanon had suggestions for solving problems between the two sides, but without elaborating.
The list handed over by Kuwait's foreign minister and circulated in Lebanese media included implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon. Major anti-corruption reforms should be implemented as well, all verbal or real attacks on Gulf nations should cease.
Bou Habib said Lebanon respects international resolutions, but added that time was needed for some.
Kordahi, who made his comments before taking his post, resigned in December, but the move did not lead to improved relations between the two sides.
The crisis goes deeper than Kordahi's comments aired in late October, however. It is rooted in Saudi Arabia's uneasiness over the rising influence of Iran in the region, including in Lebanon, once a traditional Saudi ally and recipient of financial assistance from the oil-rich kingdom.
In the weeks that followed Kordahi's resignation, tensions between the Iran-backed Hizbullah and Saudi Arabia continued to rise.
30 January 2022, 01:49
04
Lebanon and its Vichy governments and puppet president are the one keeping Lebanon from benefiting from wars to liberate Lebanon from Iran's occupation already won by the international community... from UN Resolutions, to US sanctions, to Gulf and Arab ultimatums. This is treason by any definition, and until Lebanon liberated from this criminal basij militia no recovery, independence, sovereignty justice is possible.
30 January 2022, 15:24
11
There is no chance whatsoever of the Arab FM's endorsing Lebanon's response without Lebanon agreeing to the clauses concerning the disarming of Hizballah and the hand over to LAF of all their arms. Everyone know that this is not going to happen as at the present time Hizballah Armed Forces are much stronger that Lebanese Armed Forces, as well as President Aqoun himself being against it..
30 January 2022, 20:04
21
When zionist jews write and chant death to arabs, do they also mean these leaders or only the hundreds of children you guys kill every war?
31 January 2022, 12:49
00
Sorry, but I don't see in any of the responses here any mention of "death to the Arabs".
Whilst we are at it, perhaps we can find someone who can send you the list of Israeli children who have been murdered by rockets and other forms of attack by Hamas and Hizballah terrorists. One group of children comes to mind, those murdered at Maalot by terrorists who crossed the border from Lebanon. Can you provide a list of one hundred, not hundreds, of the Arab children you are referring to?
