Libanon

[Schneemann]

Lebanon's Hariri withdraws from politics, leaving sectarian vacuum behind

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) - Lebanon's former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has pulled out of politics, ending a turbulent 17-year career and throwing the crisis-ridden country into further uncertainty.

In a televised speech on Monday afternoon, Hariri -- a three-time prime minister and the country's most prominent Sunni politician -- announced he was withdrawing from political life. He called on all members of his Future Movement party, which make up the country's largest Sunni parliamentary bloc, to do the same. Hariri said that neither he nor any members of his party would run for parliamentary elections, scheduled for May 2022. [...] Hariri leaves a vacuum in Sunni leadership, in a country with a delicate confessional power-sharing system that hangs in the balance. Multiple local media outlets have reported that Hariri's allies and foes have tried to talk him out of the move.

Lebanon is in the throes of a financial tailspin, exacerbated by a series of political stalemates centered on corruption, confessional power-sharing disputes and the the question of Iran-backed Hezbollah's arms. [...] Hariri was backed by Saudi Arabia for most of his political career. His political allegiances pitted him against the militant and political group Hezbollah, in a rivalry that shaped Lebanon's political scene for nearly two decades. In 2017, Riyadh unofficially withdrew support for Hariri.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/24/middl...index.html

Schneemann