Former minister and head of the Lebanese Forces’ Foreign Relations Apparatus, Richard Koyumjian, said that “the Gulf decision in general is the result of accumulation, and it did not come overnight, but came after enough of Hezbollah’s practices.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, he said: “These practices started from verbal attacks on Sunnis, officials and ministers in the state, to the practical practices of turning Lebanon into a training base for the Houthis, and the party’s intervention in Yemen, and then the smuggling of Captagon, which aims at more than just smuggling, Rather, it aims to target Saudi society, which has turned into a violation of the national security of Saudi Arabia, in a time, the Lebanese state represented by the presidency of the republic and the presidency of the government did nothing regarding it all”
He added, “The positive speech of Prime Minister Najib Mikati is not enough, what is required is to take practical measures, and the silence of the President of the Republic is also unacceptable, Hezbollah should be confronted politically, and if they are powerless, they must come out before the public opinion and the Lebanese people, and tell them the truth, and declare their rejection of its practices.”
Kyumjian spoke about Hezbollah’s siege of the government and authority in Lebanon by saying: “This government is not even able to take a decision to make a minister resign, a step that was supposed to happen automatically. On the contrary, the Minister of Information came out with a statement worse than the mistake itself, to confirm it again and refuse to admit “his mistake and demands guarantees in return for his resignation,” at a time when he was supposed to approach the issue based on the national interest and the interest of all the Lebanese and not the interest of the political team he represents.
Regarding the deteriorating relationship between Lebanon and the Gulf , Kyumjian said: “I think that the Kingdom will go towards more escalation , and it is not maneuvering in what it is doing.” Adding “It is sufficient to follow the public statements and stances of some officials in Saudi Arabia to make sure that this time differs from previous times, and here is the seriousness of the issue, which requires urgent measures from the Lebanese state, as to be different from the traditional procedures and treatments that no longer work. .