Saudi-Iran proxy conflict to the fore as Lebanese PM quits

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri unexpectedly resigned on Saturday in a televised speech from Saudi Arabia, saying he feared for his life and accusing Iran and its proxies of destabilising his country and the region.

Hariri, a pro-Saudi Sunni politician, said Lebanon has suffered enough because of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its grip on politics. “I want to say to Iran and its followers that they are losing in their interference in the affairs of Arab nations, and our nation will rise as it did before — and the hands that are extended to it with evil will be cut off,” he said.

The resignation raises the prospect of a renewed political confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Lebanon at a time when the Islamic Republic and its allies are widely seen to have won the proxy war against Sunni powers in neighbouring Syria. Saudi Arabia and Iran are on opposite ends of other regional conflicts such as Yemen and Iraq.

The Lebanese government includes Hezbollah members, and Hariri’s decision aims to weaken the group’s legitimate representation in domestic politics, said Sami Nader, head of the Beirut-based Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs. “It’s part of an all-out Saudi confrontation with Iran,” he said.

Riad Kahwaji, head of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said the decision also shows that Saudi Arabia will not accept the current political structure in Lebanon, where a pro-Hezbollah president is tilting the balance of power in favour of the militant group.

In the speech, the outgoing premier expressed fears that he could be assassinated like his father, former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, who was killed in an explosion in 2005.

Hariri inherited his father’s political influence. He served as prime minister from 2009 to 2011 and took office again in 2016.