Saudi FM blames Hezbollah for harming Lebanon

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir described Hezbollah on Thursday as a "first-class terrorist organization" that should lay down its arms and respect Lebanon's sovereignty. "Hezbollah has kidnapped the Lebanese system," Jubeir told a joint news conference in Riyadh with French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian.

He accused Hezbollah of destabilising the region, and said "consultations and coordination between peace-loving countries and Lebanon-loving countries are underway to try to find a way that would restore sovereignty to Lebanon and reduce the negative action which Hezbollah is conducting in Lebanon.” 

He said discussions with his French counterpart focused on several issues, mainly Iran’s meddling and combatting terrorism. Jubeir also said accusations by Lebanese President Michel Aoun that resigned Prime Minister Saad Hariri is detained are "rejected and baseless." He stressed it is up to Hariri to decide when to return home.

“Hariri lives in the kingdom by his own will and he resigned; regarding his return to Lebanon, it is up to him and his assessment to the security situation (in Lebanon)", Jubeir told the press conference. As for Le Drian, he expressed concern over Iran’s meddling, saying he discussed with the Saudi FM Tehran’s interference in the region. He also said discussions focused on the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

He added that the kingdom’s actions in the Middle East were a response to what he called the “aggression” of Iran. Long-standing arch-rivals, Riyadh and Tehran are waging a contest for power on several fronts across the region, notably in Yemen and Lebanon.

“Any way you look at it, they (the Iranians) are the ones who are acting in an aggressive manner. We are reacting to that aggression and saying, ‘Enough is enough. We’re not going to let you do this anymore’”, Jubeir told Reuters in an interview.

He said Saudi Arabia was consulting its allies about what leverage to use against Lebanese Shi‘ite militant group Hezbollah -- an Iranian ally -- to end its dominance in the small Mediterranean nation and intervention in other countries.

“We will make the decision when the time comes,” he said, declining to detail what options were under consideration. Jubeir said Hezbollah, which he described as a subsidiary of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, must disarm and become a political party for Lebanon to stabilize.

“Whenever we see a problem, we see Hezbollah act as an arm or agent of Iran and this has to come to an end,” he said after meeting his French counterpart in Riyadh. Saad al-Hariri, a Saudi ally, resigned as Lebanon’s prime minister on Nov. 4, citing an assassination plot and accusing Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in the region.

In Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is involved in a two-year-old war and has been criticized for blocking humanitarian aid, Jubeir accused the Iran-aligned Houthis of besieging civilian areas and preventing supplies from coming in or out.

“That’s why you have the starvation that’s taking place in Yemen and people need to do a more serious job of holding Houthis accountable for this,” he said.

Jubeir said domestic anti-corruption investigations which have netted senior princes, officials and businessmen in the past two weeks were ongoing.