Saudis say ex-Lebanon PM Hariri 'surrendered to Hezbollah'

Election withdrawal and calling for Sunni boycott paving way for Hezbollah takeover, Saudi Arabia warns

A Saudi journalist recently penned a column highly critical of former Lebanese prime minister Sa'ad Hariri's decision to not participate in the crisis-hit country's upcoming elections, Haaretz reports.

The article from Saudi columnist Mohammed al-Saed is significant because nothing gets published in the Kingdom without Riyadh's approval.

Saudi Arabia is warning that Hariri's January announcement that he is leaving Lebanese politics and sitting out the May 15 parliamentary elections is paving the way for a takeover by the militant Shiite group Hezbollah.

Al-Saed also criticized Hariri's calls for Sunni Muslims to boycott the election as playing into the hands of Hezbollah.

"Where is the Sa'ad whom Saudi Arabia cried for 17 years ago with the murder of his father Rafiq al-Hariri?" he wrote. "Where has that man gone, now that he's thrown himself into Iran's open arms?"

Lebanon's Sunni population was left without a leader after Hariri's announcement. He is currently in exile in the United Arab Emirates, saying that he will only return to Lebanon after the elections.

Al-Saed called for Hariri to step up and not allow Hezbollah to gain more power in the country that is suffering from a severe economic downturn.

“Your historic chance has come, although you do not deserve it,” al-Saed writes in his article. “All you have to do is support the homeland and the community you destroyed when you surrendered to Hezbollah before they say of you, 'Cry, Sa'ad, for the homeland you couldn't protect like a man.'"