Lebanon will only survive if Hezbollah disarms: Saudi

rome — Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Friday that Lebanon had been “hijacked” by Hezbollah and could only flourish if the Iranian-backed group disarmed.

The Shia militia was set up by the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in the 1980s and has grown steadily in influence, sharing power in the Beirut government and giving crucial support to President Bashar Al Assad in Syria’s civil war.

“Lebanon will only survive or prosper if you disarm Hezbollah,” Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir told a conference in Italy. “As long as you have an armed militia, you will not have peace in Lebanon.”

Jubeir said the situation in Lebanon was “tragic” and accused Iran of fomenting unrest across the Middle East. “Since 1979, the Iranians > Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir says Lebanon has been ‘hijacked’ by Hezbollah. > The militant group is giving key support to President Assad in Syria’s civil war. > The Shia militia was set up by the Iranian Revolutionary have literally got away with murder in our region, and this has to stop,” he said.

Saudi Arabia fears that Hezbollah and Iran are trying to take control of its neighbour Yemen, by supporting Houthi forces against a Riyadh-led military coalition.

Hezbollah denies fighting in Yemen, sending weapons to the Guards in the 1980s. > It has grown steadily in influence in the region. > Jubeir says Iran is fomenting unrest across the Middle East. > There are fears that Hezbollah and Iran support Houthi militia in Yemen. Houthis, or firing rockets at Saudi Arabia from Yemeni territory. Jubeir rejected this and said his country would not back down in the conflict.

“The Houthis cannot be allowed to take over a country,” he said.

Jubeir said his country only had bad relations with two nations — Iran and North Korea. He said Riyadh did not have relations with Israel, which shares Saudi worries over Iran, because it was waiting for a Palestinian peace deal.

He said everyone knew what a solution would look like to the decades-old conflict. “It is not rocket science,” he said, adding that he was waiting for the United States to put forward a new proposal.

Jubeir said he expected an eventual deal would set the borders of a Palestinian state on the lines prevailing before the 1967 war, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

However, he said adjustments could be made for settlers: “Seventy per cent of the settlers who are on the (1967) Green Line remain in Israel, and the other 30 per cent — you offer them compensation and work out housing, and they can move to Israel.” — Reuters

bodies of civilians, including women and children, have been found in the two graves south of Sinjar