by Erez Linn, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff
With Saudi crown prince in London, countries vow to help Lebanese government consolidate control over south Lebanon and weaken Iran's regional influence
British Prime Minister Theresa May with Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman in London last week
Photo: Getty Images
British Prime
Minister Theresa May and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at the
end of the latter's state visit to London on Friday, mutually vowed to
"disarm Hezbollah and confront its destabilizing role" and weaken Iran's
regional influence.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, both
countries agreed to help the Lebanese government consolidate its control
over southern Lebanon and said Iran must "abide by the principles of
good neighborliness and noninterference in the internal affairs of
countries."
Upon his arrival in the United Kingdom last Wednesday, the Saudi crown prince was greeted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Also Friday, Britain approved the $6.9
billion sale of 58 highly advanced Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia,
disregarding calls to boycott the kingdom over its role in Yemen's
civil war.
Saudi Arabia already has 72 Typhoon jets.
Britain and Saudi Arabia also signed commercial deals worth more than $2 billion.
At the start of the trip, the countries set
themselves a $90 billion trade and investment target for the coming
years, with London looking for new post-Brexit markets for its services
sector, and Crown Prince Mohammed seeking to convince wary investors his
country is a tolerant and modernizing place.
Critics say Britain has been slow to
condemn rights abuses by Saudi Arabia, a key regional ally and major
purchaser of U.K.-made weapons.
A Saudi-led coalition has been battling
Iran-allied rebels in Yemen since 2015 in a war that has killed more
than 10,000 people and driven the Arab world's poorest country to the
brink of famine. The kingdom faces wide international criticism for its
airstrikes killing civilians and striking markets, hospitals and other
civilian targets.
Campaigners against the war rallied near Parliament and held a protest outside the gates of Downing Street.
Asked by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn
whether she would condemn Saudi Arabia's "shocking abuse of human
rights," May defended Britain's close ties with the authoritarian
kingdom.
"The link with Saudi Arabia we have is
historic, it is an important one, and it has saved the lives of
potentially hundreds of people in this country" due to anti-terrorism
cooperation, she told MPs.
"Their involvement in Yemen came at the
request of the legitimate government of the Yemen, it is backed by the
U.N. Security Council, and as such we support it," she said.
Meanwhile, a former prime minister of Qatar
and a senior adviser to Saudi King Salman exchanged Twitter barbs over
the weekend, with the Qatari accusing Saudi Arabia of "neglecting the
Palestinian issue for the sake of normalization with Israel."
King Salman's adviser tweeted in response:
"You [Qatar] are the Trojan horse in the Arab nation and those who
forced the girls of Qatar to greet [former Israeli President] Shimon
Peres with flowers in Doha – where is your shame?"
Erez Linn, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/03/11/britain-saudi-arabia-make-joint-pledge-to-help-lebanon-dismantle-hezbollah/
Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment