Saad Hariri is showing a way back to stability
▶ His return to Beirut would be a chance to challenge Iran’s chokehold on Lebanon
Ever since Saad Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister, announced his resignation, Iran has been dispensing a stream of conspiracy theories. Mr Hariri, according to these, is being held against his will in Riyadh. He is the casualty, say Tehran and its proxies, of a Saudi plot to destabilise Lebanon. It’s strange that none of the conspiracists have mentioned the reasons Mr Hariri himself gave for quitting: the credible threat of imminent assassination at the hands of Iran’s militant Lebanese client, Hizbollah.
Mr Hariri’s absence has had the effect of re-energising his base at home and has revealed, to his adversaries, the true extent of his support across Lebanon. Hizbollah and Iran have, in turn, redoubled their efforts to paint Mr Hariri as a Saudi marionette. After all, the rising stature and popularity of Mr Hariri also indicate the Lebanese people’s aversion to Iran and Hizbollah.
On Sunday, Mr Hariri decided to nip the rumours by speaking publicly for the first time since resigning from office. “I’m free in the kingdom and I can travel anytime I want,” Mr Hariri said in an interview with Lebanon’s Future TV, broadcast live from his residence in Riyadh. Dismissing the “work of fantasy” being spun by Iran, he calmly enumerated the costs of not challenging Iran’s clout in Lebanon and of “allowing Hizbollah to ruin Lebanon”. A wave of economic sanctions from the countries exposed to the actions of Hizbollah would cripple Lebanon, he warned. “Saudi Arabia loves Beirut but it won’t love it more than Riyadh. Will it continue to love Beirut when a Lebanese group tries to undermine the stability of the Gulf?”, he asked pointedly.
Mr Hariri’s analysis that his hurried departure has acted as a “positive shock” to Lebanon’s political system seems accurate. There is a genuine clamour in the country, which has often teetered on the brink of collapse, for a thorough political overhaul. And this is exactly what Mr Hariri says he intends to do. Despite the threat to his life, Mr Hariri has pledged to return to Lebanon to hammer out a solution. Hizbollah now stands thoroughly discredited, a fifth column that has transformed a proud and pluralistic country into a colony of Iran’s. “I will be back very soon”, Mr Hariri said on Sunday. If this heralds the beginning of the end of Iran’s chokehold on Beirut, the drama and unrest of the past few weeks will have been worth it.