Roundup: Lebanon calls on Saudi Arabia to revise decision of halting aid

Lebanon called on Saudi Arabia on Friday to revise its decision to halt a four-billion-U.S.-dollar military aid to Lebanon, as Lebanese political leaders held Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant party, responsible for the Saudi decision.

Saudi Arabia said it will halt a three-billion-dollar grant to the Lebanese Army and another one billion dollars to the Internal Security Forces due to some Lebanese officials' positions that it deemed not "brotherly."

The United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain supported Riyadh's decision.

Earlier Lebanon's Foreign Ministry abstained from siding with Riyadh during two meetings held last month in Cairo and Jeddah to denounce Iran's failure to stop protesters from storming into Saudi embassy in Tehran in January.

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil explained that he distanced Lebanon from the Cairo statement because it classified Hezbollah, an influential member in Lebanon's government but financed and equipped by Iran, as a terrorist organization.

Both the Cairo and Jeddah statements accused Iran of supporting terror.

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam has expressed regret over the Saudi decision, calling on Riyadh to reconsider halting military and security aid.

"We express our utmost gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and his brothers in the Saudi leadership, and we call for the reconsideration of the decision to halt the aid to our army and security forces," Salam said in a statement.

Lebanon's Future Movement leader and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri blamed the foreign minister and its ally Hezbollah for the Saudi decision, but Hezbollah pointed to Riyadh's financial crisis as the real prime reason.

"We understand the Saudi Kingdom's decision, given the pain that they have suffered from the Lebanese foreign minister, who took a decision against Lebanese and Arab interests," Hariri said in a statement.

The former premier stressed he is certain that "Saudi Arabia will not abandon the Lebanese people."

Hezbollah, however, said "Riyadh's move came as no surprise given its financial crisis it attributed to the cost of the year-long war in Yemen, and the plunge in oil prices."

"The Saudi decision once again revealed the falsity of (Riyadh's) claims of its fight against terrorism," said Hezbollah.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk has called on the premier to hold a special session to discuss Lebanon's foreign, Arab, and Islamic policies, according to comments posted on his Twitter account.

Meanwhile, Lebanese army chief Samir Geagea said on his Twitter account that "Hezbollah is responsible for Lebanon losing billions of dollars because of its constant confrontation against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

Geagea called on the Lebanese government to officially ask Hezbollah to stop "attacking the kingdom."

"The government hides the crimes of Hezbollah in Syria and its actions which harm Arab relations" MP Marwan Hamade said in a statement, calling on the government to resign immediately. Endit