by News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
At emergency meeting in Cairo, Arab officials announce plans to submit an anti-Iran Arab resolution to U.N. Security Council
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Arab foreign
ministers meet at the Arab League headquarters
in Cairo, Sunday
Photo: AP
In
a resolution long on criticism but short on concrete steps, Arab
foreign ministers who convened in Cairo Sunday delivered a tirade of
criticism against Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, warning that
Tehran is destabilizing the region.
The emergency meeting was convened at the
request of Saudi Arabia, with support from the United Arab Emirates,
Bahrain and Kuwait, to discuss means of confronting Iran's regional
interventions.
They said they were planning to "brief" the
U.N. Security Council on Iran's destabilizing policies in the region,
particularly its support for Shiite rebels in Yemen, and planning to
submit an anti-Iran Arab resolution at a later stage.
In what is perhaps the only concrete
measure to emerge from the emergency meeting, the ministers said Arab
telecommunications satellites would ban Iranian-financed television
stations. The reason for the ban, they said, was that the networks
exacerbate sectarian and ethnic tensions and pose a threat to Arab
security.
"We are not declaring war on Iran at this
stage," Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said. "We have not taken a
decision to ask the Security Council to meet, but we are just briefing
the council and maybe the next stage will be for us to meet and call for
a Security Council meeting and submit a draft Arab resolution [against
Iran]."
Lebanon, where Hezbollah is a key member of
the coalition government, and Iraq, a majority Shiite nation bound by
close political and religious ties to Iran, voiced reservations about
the harsher parts of the resolution, including one branding Hezbollah a
"terrorist" organization. The draft also blamed the Shiite group for
supporting "terrorist groups" across the region and supplying them with
weapons, including ballistic missiles.
Hezbollah, both a military force involved
in Syria's war and a political movement, is part of a Lebanese
government made up of rival factions.
While not mentioning Iran by name, he said Lebanon condemned all attacks against Arab nations, but blamed exploitable inter-Arab divisions that allowed international and regional powers to promote their interests.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a
Saudi ally, resigned from the premiership on Nov. 4 in a surprise
announcement in Riyadh, in which he accused Iran and Hezbollah of
spreading strife. Subsequently, Lebanese President Michel Aoun and other
politicians accused Saudi Arabia of coercing Hariri to resign and
holding him hostage, an allegation denied by both Saudi Arabia and
Hariri.
Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powerhouse, has
significantly sharpened its anti-Iran rhetoric since intercepting a
ballistic missile fired by Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen on Nov.
4. According to the Saudi Defense Ministry, the missile was intercepted
over Riyadh's international airport. The Saudis said the missile was
Iranian-made and declared the attack an act of war by the Iranians.
Iran denies arming the Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, who say they produced the missile locally.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir asked
fellow Arab nations to take a "serious and honest" stand against
Iranian "aggression" and "meddling" in the internal affairs of Arab
countries.
"Showing leniency toward Iran will not
leave any Arab capital safe from those ballistic missiles," he told the
Arab foreign ministers' meeting.
"Today we must take a serious and honest stand ... to counter these belligerent policies," he said.
He said his country had been targeted by a
total of 80 ballistic missiles fired by Yemen's Shiite rebels since
2015, when the kingdom formed and led a coalition to fight the rebels in
Yemen alongside forces loyal to the internationally recognized
government there.
Saudi Arabia will not stand idly by in the
face of Iran's "blatant aggression," Al-Jubeir told the assembly,
adding, "We must stand together."
Aboul-Gheit also spoke during the session,
which was broadcast live. The Arab League chief was just as critical of
Iran as the Saudi minister. Alluding to the Nov. 4 attack, he said it
delivered a message to Arab nations that their capitals were within the
range of Iranian missiles.
"We say it in clear terms that Iranian
threats have exceeded all boundaries and are pushing the region toward
the abyss. ... [Iran's] missile program poses a danger to the region,"
Aboul-Gheit said.
Bahrain's foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid
Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, urged strong action by the Arab League against
Iran. In the absence of such support, his country would have no choice
but to rely on the protection of its Western allies, he said, citing the
U.S. 5th Fleet headquartered in Bahrain and naval ships patrolling the
Persian Gulf.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the Saudis of sowing division. On the
sidelines of a meeting in Antalya, Turkey, Zarif told Iranian state
media, "Unfortunately, countries like the Saudi regime are pursuing
divisions and creating differences, and because of this they don't see
any results other than divisions."
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson called Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to discuss,
among other things, regional tensions over Lebanon, the foreign ministry
said in a statement.
News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2017/11/20/saudi-arabia-arab-allies-push-for-unity-against-iran-hezbollah/
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