By Marwa Osman*
It was declared two years ago in the summer of 2014 that it’s not in Saudi Arabia’s interest for Lebanon to turn into an arena for sectarian militias fighting each other on behalf of the region’s countries. This prompted the Saudi government to offer an additional $1 billion to the $3 billion it had already pledged earlier that year to the Lebanese army as a political act that was supposed to come within the concern of curbing the current strife in Lebanon and its surroundings by fully arming the Lebanese army to face potential terrorist attacks.
Two years and multiple setbacks in Saudi foreign politics later, member states of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council, known as the [P]GCC which is a Saudi-dominated political bloc, classified Lebanese Resistance movement Hezbollah as a "terrorist" organization on Wednesday March 2, allegedly citing its "hostile actions" in Syria, Yemen and countries of the [P]GCC. This move which signals dangerously escalating tensions between local political rivals in Lebanon came two weeks after Saudi Arabia canceled the $4 billion aid package intended to strengthen Lebanese security services.
Saudi Arabia Threatens to Destabilize Lebanon
One day before the labelling of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of bullying Lebanon to end his party's criticisms of Saudi policy. Sayyed Nasrallah declared that “Saudi Arabia is angry with Hezbollah since it is daring to say what only a few others dare to say against its royal family," while denouncing the Arab world’s silence in the face of Riyadh’s aggression on Yemen, where over 8,000 people have lost their lives since the Saudi onslaught began in late March last year. Sayyed Nasrallah added that “Saudi Arabia has been trying to pick a fight with Hezbollah since 2005, but that the party would not give in. It wasn't until Saudi Arabia launched its war in Yemen that Hezbollah could no longer be silent.” Sayyed Nasrallah also rejected accusations that Riyadh's decision to halt the $4 billion in military aid was motivated by positions taken by Hezbollah or Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, but rather he declared that Lebanon already had information that shows the decision to halt the aid was made after the death of King Abdullah more than one year ago, which indicates that Saudi Arabia never had the intention to give the Lebanese army the aid to begin with.
The aid cancellation was rooted in anger over Hezbollah’s dominance of Lebanese security against terrorist attacks and apparently its deterrence of Israeli aggression against both Lebanon and Syria. What also have been fueling the frustration of Saudi Arabia was the fact that Hezbollah’s fight in Syria alongside the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was gaining momentum against the Saudi-backed terrorist groups wreaking havoc inside Syria. It is no secret that Saudi Arabia would like to see Syria broken and partitioned while President Bashar Assad taken out of the picture, but the recent groundbreaking advances made by both the SAA and Hezbollah was just too much for the kingdom to handle. Add to that the claims made last month by Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri that Hezbollah is also allegedly fighting against U.S. and Saudi interests alongside Houthis in Yemen, an accusation based on Saudi contentions after receiving several blows from the Yemeni Army in northern Yemen. These impediments made the perfect recipe for the [P]GCC to reside to name calling and terrorist labelling when they were no longer able of turning the tide to their favor in any of the battlefields.
Satisfying the new “Israeli Friends”
However, the Saudi resentment for Hezbollah and the [P]GCC’s national scandal of labelling the resistance group as a terrorist organization serves no one other than Israel. Israel hailed the labelling and declared its support for the [P]GCC’s decision. It is no secret that Israel did a little victory dance on Wednesday after the announcement which came a couple of weeks after the Israeli Channel 10 reported that a high-level Zionist delegation, led by a top official figure, visited the Saudi capital city of Riyadh. It further noted that the visit is not the first. It is rather one of a series of other previous ones.
Channel 10 further stressed that the “Israeli” authorities succeeded in building friendly relations with other Arab countries, including Gulf countries, describing them as “very good”. This anticipated shift in regional politics was being openly promoted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for several years now. Addressing a group of American Jewish leaders in occupied Jerusalem last month in February, Netanyahu said that most Arab states now view Israel as an ally, not an enemy, particularly in the struggle against Iran and Hezbollah. The time had come, he said, that covert relations become overt adding that “I think we should expect, and should ask, to see a change.” And change did come but at whose expense and what cost?
The Palestinian issue is indeed no longer a barrier to normalized relations between the Israeli entity and Arab Gulf states especially the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Demonization of the Israeli occupation state has waned over the years and is now shifted toward the only remaining power in the region capable and daring enough to fight back Israel, the Lebanese resistance Hezbollah. The [P]GCC countries should have stopped before making this dangerous decision and asked themselves these questions: Is the political polarization between the ruling Saudi elite and the axis of resistance in the region a solid enough reason to betray the Arab national interests and to forget about the Lebanese and Palestinian sufferings at the hands of the Zionist entity? Can they really trust their new Israeli “good friends” who have always incited hatred and coercions against all Arabs of all nationalities? Will the kids of Gaza who were brutally slaughtered without any mercy by the Israeli occupation forces forgive their new “political” choice? And finally, will labelling Hezbollah a terrorist organization really halt or weaken the Lebanese resistance from fighting back terrorism in Syria while keeping a heads up towards the Israeli terrorism that resides in occupied Palestinian territories?
However, it is obvious now that the decision to fuel a strife in Lebanon and to ignore the Palestinian genocide was made long ago in the [P]GCC countries. Now we wait to see how the Arab nationalist movements, organizations and public will react to this precarious move by the [P]GCC led by a number of Saudi elites who seem to be willing to venture with the lives of millions of peaceful Arabs for the sake of pleasing their new “Israeli friends”.
* Marwa Osman is a Media studies university lecturer at the Lebanese International University and a political commentator from Lebanon. She is also a member of The Blue Peace initiative's media network. She hosted a political show on 'Al Etejah English' TV channel, and she is often seen on 'Russia Today' as a panelist.
The views, opinions and positions expressed on Op-Ed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of Khamenei.ir
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