Saudi Arabia’s King Salman hosts the head of the Lebanese Maronite church, a historic first at a time when Riyadh is stepping up pressure on Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Beshara Rai arrives in Riyadh in the first trip to the kingdom by a senior Lebanese figure since a crisis sparked by the shock resignation of prime minister Saad Hariri, which was announced from the Saudi capital.
The patriarch and the king “reviewed fraternal relations between the kingdom and Lebanon and confirmed the importance of the role of different religions and cultures in promoting tolerance, renouncing violence, extremism and terrorism,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency says.
Rai also held talks with Hariri, who stepped down during a televised address on November 4 from Riyadh, in which he accused Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite movement that is part of his government but also close to Iran, of controlling Lebanon.
— AP
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