The resignation on Saturday of Lebanon's Saudi-allied Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has stepped up Saudi Arabia and Iran's regional power struggle.
With Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah apparently seeking to gain from Lebanon's political instability, Saudi Arabia responded on Monday by claiming that the new Lebanese powers that be had declared war on the oil-rich kingdom.
Read more: Is Saudi Arabia waging war on its Shiite minority?
In an interview with Saudi state television, Riyadh's Gulf affairs minister, Thamer al-Sabhan, said the Lebanese government would "be dealt with as a government declaring war on Saudi Arabia."
Hezbollah's acts of "aggression," Sabhan added, "were considered acts of a declaration of war against Saudi Arabia by Lebanon and by the Lebanese Party of the Devil."
Political crisis
The alleged declaration comes after Hariri, a Sunni ally of Riyadh who holds both Saudi and Lebanese citizenship, claimed that there had been an assassination plot against him in Lebanon, forcing him to flee to Saudi Arabia, from where he announced his resignation in a broadcast.
While the exact motive behind his resignation remained unclear, the move toppled Lebanon's factious coalition government, which also included Hezbollah, and plunged the country into a political crisis.
Read more: Saudi Arabia 'imposed' Lebanon PM's resignation, says Hezbollah chief
It also brought Lebanon back to the forefront of Iran and Saudi Arabia's regional rivalry, which has played out in Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen.
Iran-backed rebels launch missile at Saudi capital
Riyadh and Tehran's strife was once again laid bare on Monday, as the two powers traded fierce accusations over last weekend's attempted missile attack on the Saudi capital, which is believed to have been fired by Yemen's Houthi rebel group.
The Saudi-led military coalition, which is combating the Iran-backed rebel faction in Yemen, said that it reserved the "right to respond" after Saudi forces on Saturday intercepted a ballistic near Riyadh's international airport.
The Saudi-led military coalition called the attempted strike a "blatant military aggression by the Iranian regime which may amount to an act of war," while Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir warned on Twitter that "Iranian interventions in the region are detrimental to the security of neighboring countries and affect international peace and security."
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Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
War: The 'root cause' of Yemen's disasters
The UN has identified conflict as the "root cause" of Yemen's crises. More than 10,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in 2014 when Shiite Houthi rebels launched a campaign to capture the capital, Sanaa. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched a deadly campaign against the rebels, one that has been widely criticized by human rights groups for its high civilian death toll.
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Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Fighting keeps food from the famished
The conflict has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching large parts of the civilian population, resulting in 60 percent of the country's 28 million people being classified as "food insecure." At least 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished, according to the UN World Food Program. UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged the Security Council to pressure warring parties to allow aid in.
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Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Displacement: Converging crises
More than 2 million people have been displaced by conflict, including marginalized communities such as the "Muhammasheen," a minority tribe that originally migrated from Africa. Despite the civil war, many flee conflict in Somalia and head to Yemen, marking the convergence of two major migration crises in the Middle East nation. Yemen hosts more than 255,000 Somali refugees, according to UNHCR.
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Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Cholera: A deadly epidemic
As of October 2017, the number of suspected cholera cases exceeded more than 750,000, and at least 2,135 people had died from the waterborne bacterial infection in Yemen in ten months, said the WHO. Although cholera can be easily treated, it can kill within hours when untreated. By October 2018, over 10,000 cases of cholera were being treated weekly.
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Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Unsuspecting victims of the'war on terror'
In Yemen, violence goes beyond civil conflict: It is considered a strategic front in the war on terrorism. The country serves as the operational base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, dubbed the "most dangerous" terrorist group before the rise of the "Islamic State." The US routinely uses drones to target al-Qaida leadership. However, civilians have often been killed in the operations.
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Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Children's fate: Future marred by tragedy
In a country paralyzed by conflict, children are one of the most at-risk groups in Yemen. More than 11 million children require humanitarian aid, according to the UN humanitarian coordination agency. The country's education system is "on the brink of collapse," while children are dying of "preventable causes like malnutrition, diarrhea and respiratory tract infections," the agency said in October.
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Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Peace: An elusive future
Despite several attempts at UN-backed peace talks, the conflict continues to rage on. Saudi Arabia has vowed to continue supporting the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. On the other hand, Houthi rebels have demanded the formation of a unity government in order to move forward on a political solution. But neither side appears ready to compromise.
Author: Lewis Sanders IV
Iran laments Saudi 'aggression'
Tehran in turn responded by accusing its regional rival of "war crimes, regional bullying, destabilizing behavior."
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi was quoted of saying that Saturday's missile attack was an "an independent action in response to (Saudi) aggression," and that Iran had nothing to do with it.
Read more: Hunger and disease hit Yemen hard amid a 'forgotten conflict'
Saudi Arabia has been accused of not doing enough to prevent civilian deaths in its war against the Houthi rebel group in Yemen.
Since Saudi's military intervention in March 2015, more than 10,000 people have been killed.
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Saudi Arabia: Reforms or just power games?
Formation of an anti-corruption committee
Dozens of princes, former ministers and prominent businessmen have been detained across Saudi Arabia in an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign. The arrests happened after King Salman ordered the creation of an anti-corruption committee, headed by his son, Crown Prince Mohammed.
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Saudi Arabia: Reforms or just power games?
Reforming the country or silencing potential rivals?
The newly formed committee possesses wide ranging powers, including the ability to issue arrest warrants, freeze assets and impose travel bans. Saudi Arabia's crown prince has vowed to fight corruption in the world's top oil exporter. Thirty-two-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud is widely regarded as the driving force behind opening up the ultra-conservative country.
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Saudi Arabia: Reforms or just power games?
One of Middle East’s richest in hot waters
One of the arrested, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is a billionaire and business tycoon who has extensive investments in Western companies such as Twitter, Apple, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, Citigroup, the Four Seasons hotel chains and the ride sharing service Lyft. One of the Middle East's richest persons, Prince Alwaleed, is also known for being one of the most outspoken Saudi royals.
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Saudi Arabia: Reforms or just power games?
'Homeland will not exist unless corruption is uprooted'
The detainees include ex-finance minister Ibrahim al-Assaf and former head of the royal court Khaled al-Tuwaijri. Three former state officials were also sacked earlier before being detained. "The homeland will not exist unless corruption is uprooted and the corrupt are held accountable," said a royal degree connected to the arrests.
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Saudi Arabia: Reforms or just power games?
Too much happening too quickly
In other developments, the Saudi monarch removed the prominent prince in charge of the National Guard. The development followed the resignation of a close ally, Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri. These political developments further shake up Saudi Arabia and the greater Middle East as regional conflicts rage on the kingdom's borders.
Author: Aasim Saleem
dm/kl (Reuters, dpa, AP)
