EXPLAINER: Why frustrated Saudi is lashing out at Lebanon

By SARAH EL DEEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — A televised remark by a game show host-turned Cabinet minister in Lebanon about the war in Yemen has taken Lebanon’s crisis with Saudi Arabia to new depths. The feud over the minister’s comments has triggered moves by Gulf Arab countries that further isolate Lebanon and threaten to split its new coalition government, tasked with halting the country’s economic meltdown. It is the latest escalation in the rivalry that has long played out in Lebanon between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Tensions have dragged on for years over the dominant role of the Iranian-backed militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon.