Lebanese PM disavows Hezbollah, says Iran-backed group ‘a regional problem’

Lebanon’s prime minister disavows any responsibility for Hezbollah, and says he is unable to curb the activities of the Iran-backed terrorist organization.

In an interview with American cable news network CNBC days after a bout of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel that raised concerns of an all-out conflict, Saad Hariri asserts the group is not “a Lebanese problem” but “a regional problem.”

“Israel wants to have … this scenario that Lebanon is responsible, with what Netanyahu says, and if you want to buy it, buy it. But he knows and the international community knows that this is not true.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri speaks during a conference at Chatham House in London on December 13, 2018. (Daniel Leak-Olivas/AFP)

During the weekend flareup Hariri tried to calm tensions, urging the United States and France to intervene to prevent further violence. He says his government is unable to control the paramilitary group.

“I am a pragmatic person, and I know my limits, and I know the limits of this region,” Hariri says. “If people were serious about this issue, they would have done things 10, 15, 20, 30 years” earlier.”