The main reason why Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri traveled to Saudi Arabia recently to resign was because he had uncovered a Hezbollah plot to assassinate him.
Immediately following Hariri’s announcement that he had resigned, speculation began that he was pressured to do so by the Saudis.
But in a televised speech, Hariri said his life was in danger because his security detail uncovered the Hezbollah plot to assassinate him in a similar fashion as his father Rafiq, murdered by the Iranian proxy group in Beirut Feb. 14, 2005.
His convoy was virtually destroyed by a roadside bomb planted by Hezbollah operatives near the St. George Hotel in Beirut.
The explosion killed 21 members of Rafiq Hariri’s security detail. A special U.N. tribunal later determined four Hezbollah members had been complicit in carrying out the assassination.
While still in Saudi Arabia, Hariri blamed Iran for interfering in his country’s political processes and using Hezbollah to sow disruption and discourse.
“Saad Hariri was reportedly shown demonstrative and probative evidence that those currently watching and recording most of his moves, including his convoy routes and frequented destinations, constitute a mortal danger to him and that he urgently needs to take immediate security measures and even leave Lebanon until the threat could be removed,” Professor Franklin P. Lamb, an expert on Syria and Lebanon, wrote in an assessment. [source]
Information in this article helps satisfy Priority Intelligence Requirement 2: What is the current situation report and risk of war in each of the four flashpoints?
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