Lebanon's most senior Christian cleric said on Thursday he hoped for an improvement in ties with Saudi Arabia, which has withheld support for the crisis-torn Lebanese economy because of the rising influence of its arch-enemy Hezbollah.
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Saudi Arabia, which had long channeled funds into Lebanon's fragile economy alongside other Gulf monarchs, has so far been reluctant to step in during the current crisis, keeping its distance as Hezbollah advances politically.
"Saudi Arabia has not violated Lebanon's sovereignty or its independence, it has not violated its borders or involved it in wars," Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai said in a speech at an event celebrating 100 years of Saudi relations with the church.
Rai, a harsh critic of the heavily armed Hezbollah, has called for Lebanon to remain neutral, referring to Hezbollah's deployment of fighters to Syria and its alliance with Iran in a power struggle with Saudi Arabia.
