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Saudi Official Says He Has Confirmed Plot to Kill Hariri

By VOA News November 04, 2017

Saudi Arabia's Gulf affairs minister said Saturday that he had "confirmed information" about a plot to kill Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri from the leader's personal security detail.

Thamer al-Sabhan told Future, an Arabic television station owned by Hariri, that the Lebanese leader was in Riyadh. Al-Sabhan added that he knew of "security threats to the prime minister, and the kingdom is keen on his safety."

Hariri announced his resignation Saturday, after delivering a blistering attack on Iran and its proxy militia, Hezbollah. The resignation followed consultations with Saudi Arabian leaders in Riyadh, and a meeting with Iran's top foreign policy adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun indicated that Hariri's office had called him from outside Lebanon to relay the news of his resignation. Commentators on Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV stressed that Hariri's resignation speech was made from Riyadh and that it had "regional implications."

In his speech, Hariri accused Iran and Hezbollah of creating discord in the country, as well as across the region.

He said that outside parties – alluding to Iran – that wished ill on Lebanon had sown sectarian strife among the Lebanese, gaining control of the levers of power and setting up a state within a state. He also accused Iran of meddling in the internal affairs of other Arab states, including Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen.

Hariri went on to claim the political climate inside Lebanon resembled the one that prevailed in the months before his father, the late Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, was assassinated in February 2005, and that he sensed a "covert plot" against his own life. Arab and Lebanese media have long accused Hezbollah of killing the elder Hariri.

'Determined to be free'

He added that the Lebanese people were "determined to be free and independent," and he insisted the country must have "only one state, one army, and one set of arms."

Hariri met Friday with Velayati, a former Iranian former foreign minister.

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, told VOA he thought Hariri might have wanted to tell Iran he was not "seeking to escalate the conflict," despite his impending resignation.

Khashan said he did not think a new government would be formed anytime soon and that Hariri's government would continue to govern in a caretaker capacity for a long time.

"We are used to having a caretaker cabinet perform its functions for a year or so," said Khashan. "So, it will be a long time before another cabinet is formed [and] it will be a long time before another Sunni leader will accept to form a cabinet. ... Otherwise, he would be labeled a traitor."

Despite the sudden political storm, Khashan said he didn't think that it was "in the interest of either Iran or Hezbollah to escalate tensions" following Hariri's resignation.

He said outside parties like Israel, however, were taking a more muscular attitude toward Hezbollah. He said recent Israeli "raids against Hezbollah [targets] in Syria ... mark an escalation in their attacks."

He also pointed out that Israeli warplanes had been "making intensive overflights in the south of Lebanon during the past few days."

VOA's Edward Yeranian contributed to this report.