BEIRUT: A Hezbollah delegation offered the party’s condolences to Lebanon’s Saudi ambassador Monday over the death of King Abdullah.
In parallel, Hezbollah’s Christian ally, the Free Patriotic Movement, announced in a statement Monday that a delegation led by the group’s chief MP Michel Aoun, and his son-in-law, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, headed to Riyadh to offer their condolences.
MP Nawwar Sahili and MP Ali Moqdad headed Hezbollah’s delegation to the Mohammad al-Amine Mosque in Beirut, where Ambassador Ali Awad Asiri was receiving condolences, three days after Abdullah, 90, was announced dead.
The Hezbollah officials’ visit coincided with that of Future Movement lawmaker Bahia Hariri.
The relatively low-level delegation speaks to the tense relationship between the party and Saudi Arabia, which asked the United Nations in November to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
Saudi-Hezbollah ties have sharply deteriorated since the outbreak of the Syrian war, with each side backing opposing forces.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia and its allies of funding jihadi groups fighting in Syria, where Hezbollah forces are also heavily deployed.
But Saudi Arabia has also said it backed dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement.
Also Monday, and for the third day in a row, hundreds of political, diplomatic, social and religious figures headed to the Mohammad al-Amine Mosque to pay their respects.
Before heading to Riyadh Bassil visited Asiri for condolences. Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, Economy and Trade Minister Alain Hakim and Minister for the Displaced Alice Shabtini were also present.
Other dignitaries included United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag; British Ambassador Tom Fletcher; French Ambassador Patrice Paoli; Nader Hariri, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s chief of staff; a delegation from the Lebanese Forces headed by MP George Adwan; and a delegation from the FPM headed by MP Ibrahim Kanaan.
Also, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, the head of Military Intelligence Brig. Edmond Fadel and a military delegation offered condolences. Former MP Wi’am Wahhab also paid his respects.
Several Lebanese officials including Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi traveled to Riyadh to offer condolences to the new Saudi leadership.
Asiri stressed that Saudi Arabia’s policy toward Lebanon would not change and support would continue with the new rule of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz.
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