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By
Dale Gavlak
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AMMAN - Lebanon should not expect help from Persian Gulf Arab states in bailing the country out from its severe financial and economic woes, according to analysts.
Emile Hokayem, the senior fellow for Middle East Security at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, called past Gulf financial and political investments in Lebanon "costly and bruising," without achieving a clear outcome or benefit.
Instead, Hokayem said, Lebanese politicians "milked those connections for local gains."
"In Saudi [Arabia], but also elsewhere, people realize the Lebanese state nor the Hariri dynasty can do much about Hezbollah's support, for instance, for the Houthis in Yemen — and that goes to the heart of Gulf national security," he said. "Lebanon is also seen increasingly as a source of threat to the Gulf states — whether it's Hezbollah and assumed desire to manipulate and provoke or spy on behalf of the Iranians — I'm describing the perception. There is immense frustration."