Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, considered Lebanon’s most influential (?) Sunni Muslim politician, returned unexpectedly to Lebanon on Friday after three years of self-imposed exile. Mr. Hariri’s return is being seen as a bid to reassert his leadership over Lebanon’s Sunni community amid growing concern that many Sunnis are being radicalized by the war in Syria. Mr. Hariri, above, left Lebanon in 2011 after his government was toppled by a coalition that included the Shiite militia Hezbollah. He has split his time between Paris and Saudi Arabia, citing concerns for his safety. ( If he was so concerned about his safety, why go back to Lebanon?) He is the son of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a bombing in 2005 and whose assassination set off an uprising that led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after a long military presence. On Friday, Mr. Hariri met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam.
Mr Hariri is tied to both Saudi Arabia and Israel Let's flashback to 2010-Massive Natural Gas resources to spark attack by Israel on Lebanon
"Tensions have been stirred by both sides. Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition has accused Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri of failing to protect the country's resource rights, and Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told Bloomberg last week that Israel would use force if necessary to defend its right to develop and produce the fields.
These oil fields contain more then 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, equivalent to 3.5 billion barrels of oil, or 35 years of Israel's consumption.A consortium of energy companies, including Noble Energy of the United States, has signed an $11 billion gas supply deal with the Israel Electric Co. starting in two years, and has received a $430 million loan to develop the Tamar field"
From earlier today-