Hariri's resignation calls into question Card Rahi’s visit to Riyadh
The “head of the Maronite Church is convinced that pressure was put on the prime minister to resign,” says one source. The cardinal is outraged about the way in which the resignation was announced and has not tried to hide it.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – Astonished and puzzled like everyone else by the huge surprise of the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the head of the Maronite Church, Cardinal Bechara al-Rahi, "decided to let a few days pass" before confirming his plan to visit Saudi Arabia in response to an official invitation sent to him last week by the chargé d'affaires of the Saudi Embassy in Lebanon.
Initially, the head of the Maronite Church had said that this trip, a first, would occur "in two weeks time", which should have been around mid-November. Now, “the head of the Maronite Church is convinced that pressure was put on the prime minister to resign,” says one source. "If this is what happened, how can we go to Saudi Arabia? To give our blessing to pressure on the prime minister?” the head of the Maronite Church is quoted as saying by some people who have met him.
The head of the Maronite Church is outraged by the way the resignation was announced, and has not tried to hide it, this according to the Patriarchate. "It is a time for a sacred union,” the source said, “for greater national solidarity. Just as Lebanon once stood, as one, alongside the Shia community, in 2006 (during the Israeli offensive), [today] we must stand, at this important moment, alongside the Sunni community if its dignity was offended, "the source added.
Boomerang effect
At the political level, what surprises the most is the way things unfolded, and there is fear of a boomerang effect that will benefit only the adversaries we are trying to fight. The abruptness shown by Saudi Arabia has generated hostility even in the camp that should be allied to it.
"Announcing the resignation of the Lebanese prime minister in Riyadh, in the way it was done, is the height of political clumsiness," said Michel Touma, editor-in-chief of L’Orient-Le Jour, in his editorial today.
At the same, the journalist noted that "Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah – who himself acknowledges that he is dependent on Iran on strategic issues – took advantage of it to say that the resignation was imposed on Mr Hariri and that the communiqué read by the prime minister was the work of the Saudis.
.png)
