The Latest Developments in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon

The first [issue] is stability in Lebanon. The capital of Lebanon, Beirut, was [once] known as the Paris of the Middle East. Tragically, a long civil war, sectarian strife, and proxy conflicts have changed its image. Lebanon remains an important country, though, and we should work to maintain the delicate power sharing that exists between Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims, and Maronite Christians, particular at a time when Lebanon has accepted more refugees per capita than any country in the world, due to the war in neighboring Syria. Iran has taken advantage of the chaos in Lebanon to exert its influence through its proxy, Shiite militia, Hezbollah. Over the past several years, Hezbollah has built up its military capacity and firmly entrenched itself in the Lebanese Government. In Hariri's resignation speech, he called Hezbollah the arm of Iran that has, "managed to impose a fait accompli in Lebanon using the force of its weapons." Hezbollah's capabilities now rival those of the national army, the Lebanese Armed Forces. A legitimate Lebanese Government cannot function effectively when it is in a constant power struggle to govern with a nonstate actor. Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed terrorist organization responsible for attacks around the globe and we should all be interested in marginalizing their influence. The second issue is Saudi stability. Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is vital to the Middle East as strategic partners who share common interests. But we have to be honest in assessing where those interests diverge. While the new crown prince has stated his commitment to reforms, progress on human rights has been slow and unacceptable practices against minority groups and women remain national policy. This administration's perceived carte blanche support for Saudi Arabia has empowered them to take additional steps like the public split from Qatar.