'Friday’s meetin­g isn’t anti-Saudi or anti-Irania­n, it’s pro-Lebano­n'PARIS: Major powers will try to shore up Lebanon’s stability on Friday by pushing Saudi Arabia and Iran to stop interfering in its politics, and urging Hezbollah to rein in its regional activities, diplomats said. Lebanon plunged into crisis on Nov. 4 when Saad al-Hariri resigned as prime minister while he was in Saudi Arabia, saying he feared assassination and criticizing the Saudis’ regional arch-rival Iran along with its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. The Lebanese policy of “dissociation” was declared in 2012 to keep the deeply divided state out of regional conflicts such as the civil war in neighboring Syria. Despite the policy, Hezbollah is heavily involved there, sending thousands of fighters to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Highlighting the difficulties of upholding such a policy, Hezbollah backed calls on Thursday for a new Palestinian uprising in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Source: The Express Tribune December 08, 2017 07:30 UTC