Get Nasrallah out of Baabda Palace
FOR Lebanese President Michel Aoun to declare and instigate war on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it clearly means that he has adopted the stance of ‘Hezbollah’ which thinks Saad Al-Hariri is detained and his freedom is restricted. He said, “The detention is hostility toward Lebanon.” It is as if the speaker is Hassan Nasrallah, not the President of the Lebanese Republic.
Aoun, through his stance, burns the rescue vessel for Lebanon’s relations with countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). He is throwing himself in the arms of Iran, obliterating everything that he repeatedly affirmed in terms of distancing from the ongoing regional conflicts.
Nevertheless, the distance that he is maintaining is tailored by his Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil in measurements which serve his interests — sometimes by distancing from Arab decisions against Iranian practices, and at other times, voting against Saudi Arabia and Arab countries.
It appears that Aoun’s political experience is based on his military mentality, although he also missed that target. This shows his political shortsightedness which is not in chime with the Lebanese principles that ‘Hezbollah’ is trying to change in the interest of the Iranian scheme, while leaving the country exposed to danger without the Arab protective shield.
Nonetheless, we ought to acknowledge the political farsightedness of Al-Hariri, which is more modern than that of Aoun in terms of political work.
Al-Hariri is more rational in dealing with the situation and keen on protecting the welfare of his country, let alone distancing from the raging fire in the region. Aoun, on the other hand, has chosen recklessness and plunging Lebanon into the core of the storm by announcing relinquishment of Arab stability reassurance.
This means he has let go of stability reassurance which came about in the city of Taif in Saudi Arabia. It pulled Lebanon from the senseless civil war, so his instigation against the Kingdom is instigation against all GCC countries.
It is unnecessary to remind him about what Al-Hariri said regarding Saudi’s positive role in averting danger from Lebanon and the launching of his freedom cry from Riyadh to ascertain that it is not possible for this role to persist under the current conditions. The May 2008 experience is still in mind due to the reaction which was less intense at the time, wondering how the positive aftershock would be if it happened in the Lebanese capital.
It was a brilliant move on the part of Al-Hariri as he responded immediately to Aoun, saying he is well a thousand times in the Kingdom and he will return to his country soon.
However, the propaganda of Aoun’s foreign minister about the alleged capture of Al-Hariri entails he might be oblivious to the fact that he holds Saudi nationality; just like half of Bassil’s legislators who have dual citizenship. It will not be surprising to know that he could be holding French nationality.
With regard to Al-Hariri’s family, they live in their country, while the rulers of the Kingdom are not Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi for them to take officials’ families as hostage.
Indeed, as it appears, Al-Hariri’s rising up has caught Michael Aoun off guard and prompted him to resort to his military culture of firing haphazardly without any consideration for Lebanon which undoubtedly will be the sole victim of such fire.
After the announcement of Aoun, it is now up to the Lebanese to remove the haphazard element from Baabda Palace. It seems he is gradually attracting war on his country which is similar to that of 1991, the destructive war sparked by greed for power. He did not preserve it after the settlement graced by the Kingdom, the same settlement he is declaring war against.
The question we are now asking the trigger happy Lebanese president who uses Hezbollah’s cannons is: What will be his position once France confirms that Al-Hariri has accepted President Macron’s invitation to visit Paris?
What is his position on the confirmation of the Kingdom’s Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubair and his French counterpart that Al-Hariri is free in his movements?
In all cases, when contemplating on Al-Hariri’s resignation statement, Aoun would have found the conditions stipulated within were enough to prove that he is a strong president of the republic and he is above internal and regional political alignments, but he missed the opportunity due to his political naivety which has no cure.