BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat, on his country’s first high-level visit to Beirut after years of strained ties, said Thursday he believed crisis-hit Lebanon’s new leaders can spearhead long-sought reforms.
Reeling from years of economic collapse and a destructive Israel-Hezbollah war, Lebanese leaders have pinned hopes on wealthy Gulf states for desperately needed reconstruction funds.
The international community has long demanded Lebanon enact reforms to unlock billions of dollars to boost the economy after financial crisis took hold in 2019 – widely blamed on rampant corruption and mismanagement.
Saudi FM in Lebanon for first visit in almost 15 years: state media
“We are greatly confident in the ability of… the president and the prime minister to initiate reforms necessary to bolster Lebanon’s security, stability and unity,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said after meeting President Joseph Aoun in Beirut.
Lebanon’s parliament elected Aoun earlier this month. The candidacy of the former military chief is widely believed to have been backed by Riyadh and Western countries.
Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s largest economy, was a major investor in Lebanon but ties between the two countries soured for roughly the past decade over the growing influence of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
With Hezbollah weakened after the war with Israel and the toppling of its ally, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Prince Faisal’s visit comes with Lebanon seeking a fresh start.
Aoun, whose election ended more than two years without a president, named former International Court of Justice presiding judge Nawaf Salam as prime minister-designate.
He has been tasked with forming a government capable of boosting Lebanon’s faltering economy and rebuilding areas devastated by war.
Aoun has said his first official overseas trip would be to Saudi Arabia, after de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman invited him to visit the kingdom.
In his first speech as president, Aoun said the state would have “a monopoly” on bearing weapons, in a country where Hezbollah was the only group to keep its arsenal following the 1975-1990 civil war.
Prior to his visit, Prince Faisal called Aoun’s election “extremely positive”, but said the kingdom was waiting for concrete change before engaging further with Beirut.
“We will need to see real action. We will need to see real reform. We will need to see a commitment to a Lebanon that is looking to the future, not to the past, in order for us to raise our engagement,” he said.
His Lebanon visit aims to “inform the kingdom’s approach” he said.
In 2021, many Gulf states including Saudi Arabia had recalled diplomats from Beirut over a Lebanese minister’s criticism of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.
Riyadh had also suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon in April that year, saying shipments were being used for drug smuggling and accusing Beirut of inaction.
In 2017, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced in a televised address from Riyadh that he was stepping down, citing Iran’s “grip” on his country through Hezbollah, amid suspicions he had been placed under house arrest.
He later withdraws his resignation.
Among other tensions, in 2016 Riyadh said it had halted a $3 billion programme for military supplies to Lebanon in protest against Hezbollah.
Bin Farhan’s visit also comes ahead of a January 26 deadline to fully implement a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah.
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