New Saudi-Lebanese crisis likely over request for activist’s extradition as Hezbollah continues to fuel tensions

Saudi-Lebanese relations are facing a new test with Riyadh demanding the extradition of a Saudi opposition activist who has threatened his country’s embassy but is reported to enjoy the protection of Hezbollah.

The activist named as Ali Hashem had threatened the Saudi embassy in Lebanon with a terrorist attack and vowed to exterminate all those working there.

Observers believe that the failure of the Lebanese authorities to extradite Hashem may lead to fresh tensions in bilateral relations and perhaps to a new episode of diplomatic rupture between the two countries, at a time when Lebanon is in most need of the kingdom’s backing to help deal with its dire economic and political crises.

Analysts believe it is unlikely the Lebanese authorities would be able to satisfy Riyadh’s request as long as the Saudi activist has the protection and blessing of Hezbollah.

The militant Shia party, they say, will block any attempts to extradite Hashem. Hezbollah is instead believed to be intensifying its efforts to recruit Saudi activists to its cause as it seeks to undermine the standing of Saudi Arabia in the region and assail its reputation, even if that means jeopardising already-frayed Saudi-Lebanese relations.

As an Iran proxy, Hezbollah conducts policies in Lebanon and the region that are deeply inimical to Saudi Arabia and Arab Gulf states and serve Tehran’s interests.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari said the kingdom is seeking the arrest and extradition from Lebanon of the Saudi activist who threatened the kingdom’s embassy in Beirut last week.

“We call upon the competent Lebanese authorities to undertake the necessary legal procedures regarding the terrorist threats,” Bukhari said following a meeting with Lebanon’s interior minister.

Lebanese and Saudi authorities say the person behind the recorded threats was a Saudi national named Ali Hashem.

Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi last week asked security forces to probe the recorded death threats out of “concern for Lebanon’s interest and security and good relations with brotherly nations, especially the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Some Lebanese officials have tried to improve ties with Saudi Arabia, once a major donor, after years of tension over the growing influence in Lebanon of Hezbollah, which is classified by both Riyadh and the United States as a terrorist group. With Hezbollah always in control of much of the decision-making process, any improvement in Saudi-Lebanese relations is perceived by experts as only temporary till the next crisis.

Relations hit a new low last year when Saudi Arabia banned imports of Lebanese goods over drug smuggling concerns and then recalled its ambassador after disparaging remarks about Saudi policy in Yemen made by former minister of information, George Kerdahi, a pro-Hezbollah politician. The Lebanese minister has since left the cabinet and the Saudi ambassador has returned to his post.

Much of the tension between Riyadh and Beirut has been fuelled by Hezbollah’s using its clout in Lebanon to undermine relations with the kingdom. From that perspective, it has sought to co-opt Saudi opposition activists to its side as it still seeks confrontation with Riyadh.

Many in Lebanon itself and in Arab Gulf countries also suspect Hezbollah of involvement in drug smuggling into the kingdom in order to destabilise Saudi society and replenish its own coffers.

Bukhari called on Lebanese security forces to continue cracking down on illicit drug smuggling to Saudi Arabia, noting the kingdom has seized 700 million narcotic pills and hundreds of kilos of hashish smuggled from or via Lebanon since 2015.

It is widely believed that Hezbollah has already smuggled the Saudi activist Ali Hashem to Syria in order to prevent his arrest.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese government fears it will face new frictions with Saudi Arabia, in the light of Beirut’s expected inability to extradite the activist and curtail Hezbollah policies that are deeply hostile to the kingdom.

Indeed, over the past few years, experts say, Hezbollah has set out to damage Saudi-Lebanese relations, through provocative acts and vitriolic attacks by Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s against the kingdom.

Source: The Arab Weekly