Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman wanted to take the war from Yemen to Lebanon, according to a leaked document obtained by Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar.
Al Akhbar revealed a leaked document from the email of UAE ambassador in Washington Youssef Al-Otaiba.
Dina Kawar, Jordan’s ambassador to the United States sent a diplomatic briefing to Otaiba following her meeting with top Middle East adviser on the National Security Council Michael Bell.
According to the briefing- dated November 22, 2017- Bell told Kawar that the political mediation between Qatar and Saudi Arabia over the Gulf crisis was still going on.
“Concerning Lebanon, Bell hinted that (PM Saad) Hariri was taken hostage in Saudi Arabia, and that Riyadh told him he should completely dissociate himself from Syria and Hezbollah, and keep Hezbollah from the state institutions, or else Riyadh will use Hariri’s financial transactions against him,” the briefing said, referring to the Lebanese diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia last November when Hariri was forced by Riyadh to resign.
Bell remarks to the Jordanian ambassador were following his meeting with Bin Salman’s adviser Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, according to the leaked document.
Sadhan also told Bell that the Saudi crown prince, who is known as MBS, prefers that the war in Yemen should be taken to Lebanon, citing Israeli fears that the war in Yemen was affecting stability in the Saudi Kingdom.
Source: Al-Akhbar Newspaper
