Lebanon PM’s exit may raise regional tensions

BEIRUT: Saad Hariri’s resignation from Lebanon’s premiership has raised fears that regional tensions were about to escalate and that the small country would once again pay a heavy price.

Analysts said the Saudi-backed Sunni politician’s move on Saturday to step down from the helm less than a year after forming a government was more than just the latest hiccup in Lebanon’s notoriously dysfunctional politics.

“It’s a dangerous decision with consequences which will be heavier than what Lebanon can bear,” Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said.

Hariri announced his resignation in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia, accusing Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hizbollah, of taking over his country and destabilising the entire region.

Hizbollah is part of the government, but the clout of a group whose military arsenal outstrips that of Lebanon’s own armed forces is far greater than its share of cabinet posts.

Lebanon has been divided between a camp dominated by the Shia Teheran-backed Hizbollah and a Saudi-supported movement led by Hariri.

“Hariri has started a cold war that could escalate into a civil war, bearing in mind that Hizbollah is unmatched in Lebanon on the military level,” Khashan said.

The rift in Lebanon’s political class led to the assassination in 2005 of Hariri’s father Rafik, an immensely influential tycoon who made his fortune in Saudi Arabia. Investigations pointed to the responsibility of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and its Lebanese ally, Hizbollah. AFP