Saudi FM: Dealing with Lebanon is no longer 'fruitful or useful'

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud said his country has concluded that dealing with Lebanon is “no longer fruitful or useful”.

In an interview with CNBC aired yesterday, Bin Farhan was asked if Saudi Arabia and Lebanon were in the midst of a diplomatic crisis over statements made by Lebanese Minister of Information George Kordahi, to which he responded: “I don’t think I will call it a crisis. We have come to the conclusion that dealing with Lebanon and its current government is no longer fruitful or useful.”

“Given Hezbollah’s continued control of the political scene, and what we believe to be the continued abstention of this government and Lebanese leaders in general from implementing the reforms and measures necessary to make real change in Lebanon, we have decided that communication is no longer fruitful or useful and is no longer in our best interests.”

READ: Is Lebanon the latest battlefield in the war between Saudi Arabia and Iran?

“The minister’s statements represented a reality, the fact that the political scene in Lebanon is still controlled by Hezbollah, a terrorist group that, by the way, armed, supported and trained the Houthi militias,” he added.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Lebanon for consultations and ordered the Lebanese ambassador to leave within 48 hours, after an interview recorded with Kordahi in August aired and showed him saying that Yemen’s Houthis were “defending themselves against an external aggression”, in reference to the Saudi-led Arab coalition.