{"id":12116,"date":"2017-11-28T18:50:23","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T18:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=12116"},"modified":"2017-11-28T18:50:23","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T18:50:23","slug":"lebanon-is-latest-target-in-saudi-intimidation-campaign-qatari-fm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/lebanon-is-latest-target-in-saudi-intimidation-campaign-qatari-fm\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon is latest target in Saudi intimidation campaign: Qatari FM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani\u00a0says Lebanon is\u00a0the latest target in a\u00a0Saudi\u00a0campaign of intimidation, stressing that the Riyadh regime is simply a \u201cbully\u201d that risks destabilizing peace and stability in the Middle East region.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a round table discussion at a conference in London, the top Qatari diplomat stated that the\u00a0resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri\u00a0was a Saudi decision and\u00a0forced on him during his time in Riyadh.<\/p>\n

\u201cLebanon is a fragile country, and pressuring the prime minister to resign and leave a vacuum in a country \u2013\u00a0which is very sensitive for everybody \u2013 is a counter-productive policy,\u201d Al Thani said.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThis is a big country bullying a small country \u2013 we have seen it in Qatar and now we are seeing it repeated in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to God and all the allies that contained the situation before it evolved and got worse \u2026 If it was not contained from the beginning we would have a horrific impact.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hariri arrived in Beirut late on November 21, more than two weeks after unexpectedly announcing he had quit\u00a0his\u00a0post. All political factions in Lebanon had called on him to return home.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri greets his supporters upon his arrival at his home in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 22, 2017.\u00a0(Photo by AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Top Lebanese officials and senior politicians close to Hariri had earlier said that he had been forced to resign, and that Saudi authorities were holding him captive.<\/p>\n

Lebanese President Michel Aoun had also refused to accept Hariri’s resignation.<\/p>\n

Al Thani also made a reference to the\u00a0ongoing Saudi-led diplomatic and trade boycott against Qatar, saying a list of 13 demands issued by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt\u00a0in exchange for lifting the restrictions were impossible to meet, and a \u201cclear indication that they don\u2019t want [the agreement] to be accepted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t want to resolve this – they want our country in submission, which is the main reason they started the entire thing. This is just part of a pattern of impulsive leadership\u00a0\u2026 They entered this conflict with no exit strategy,\u201d he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNo one has identified a strategy;\u00a0no one has any idea on the way forward with them,\u201d the Qatari foreign minister pointed out.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain\u00a0and Egypt all cut off diplomatic ties\u00a0with Qatar on June 5, after officially accusing it of \u201csponsoring terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration of Saudi-backed\u00a0and resigned Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Libya, the Maldives, Djibouti, Senegal and the Comoros later joined the camp in ending diplomatic ties. Jordan downgraded its\u00a0diplomatic relations as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A general view taken on September 24, 2017 shows the Navy Special Forces off the coast of the Qatari capital, Doha. (Photo by AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry later announced that the decisions to cut diplomatic ties were unjustified and based on false claims and assumptions.<\/p>\n

Al Thani noted that the Middle East could not afford more turbulence as conflict continues in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the Middle East was once a region of peace and co-existence, it has unfortunately been transformed into a region of turbulence and totalitarianism, where extremism flourishes,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhat is the root cause of terrorism? Tyranny, totalitarianism, aggression and the absence of justice,\u201d the Qatari diplomat said.<\/p>\n

Al Thani said\u00a024 million children across the Middle East were being left vulnerable to recruitment by terrorist groups, authoritarianism and a lack of education and opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to address this issue of regimes who are not respecting the rights of their people or the law,\u201d he commented.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani\u00a0says Lebanon is\u00a0the latest target in a\u00a0Saudi\u00a0campaign of intimidation, stressing that the Riyadh regime is simply a \u201cbully\u201d that risks destabilizing peace and stability in the Middle East region. Speaking at a round table discussion at a conference in London, the top Qatari diplomat stated that the\u00a0resignation of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-islamic-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12119,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116\/revisions\/12119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}