Report: Lebanon-Gulf Relations Not in Good Place

Murky atmospheres between Lebanon and Gulf countries seem to surface again following the latest statements made by President Michel Aoun over the Resistance's arms, and Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's escalating rhetoric against Saudi Arabia, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

The President has defended the Resistance's arms saying they complete the Army's weapons, while Nasrallah waged a verbal attack against Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In an interview to a private Egyptian TV station earlier in February, Aoun had defended Hizbullah's arms and underlined his unabated support for the Iranian-backed group.

“As long as there is Israeli-occupied land and as long as the army is not strong enough to fight Israel, we sense that there is a need for the presence of the resistance's arms so that they complete the army's weapons,” Aoun said in the interview.

For his part, Nasrallah had accused Saudi forces of “oppressing and killing the Bahraini people” and slammed Bahrain's government over its crackdown on Shiite-led dissent.

He also blasted Saudi Arabia and the UAE over their military campaign in Yemen against Iran-backed rebels.

In sum, the Lebanese-Gulf ties are a bit tense, reported al-Joumhouria, and it seems difficult to re-normalize them before solutions for the regional crisis become available or a convergence policy between Riyadh and Tehran emerges.

Such a convergence not only reflects positively on Lebanon, but on the regional crises as well, it said.

However nothing in the horizon indicates this would happen in the near future, it added.

Lebanon's political factions are deeply divided with some aligning with Iran, while their opponents side with Saudi Arabia.

Aoun visited Saudi Arabia last month in an attempt to restore relations, which deteriorated after Riyadh accused Beirut of failing to condemn the 2016 attacks by demonstrators on Saudi missions in Iran after the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. In retaliation, Saudi Arabia halted a $3 billion arms deal and banned Saudis and other Gulf nationals from traveling to Lebanon.

After Aoun's visit, the ban on travelers was lifted but the arms deal remains on pause. A senior Lebanese official had said at the time that Saudis have conditions to unblock the military aid to Lebanon, suggesting that the arms must not end up in the hands of Hizbullah, which the Saudis view as a terrorist organization.