Head of the Hezbollah Liaison and Coordination Unit, Wafiq Safa, was transported by private plane from Beirut Airport to Abu Dhabi (Lebanese Press)

Beirut -

A visit described as historic by the head of Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit, Wafik Safa, to the Emirates, on March 19, caught the attention of Lebanon, and its connotations and dimensions took the lead in the political scene, going beyond the limits of the declared official mission, which is to research the file of about 7 Lebanese have been detained in the UAE for years, on charges of spying and dealing with the party.

It is not a normal event, according to observers, for a private plane to transport a senior Hezbollah official from Beirut Airport to Abu Dhabi, who has been on its terrorist list since 2014 and accuses him of tampering with its security, while Hezbollah has a history of making harsh accusations against the UAE about its relationship with Israel.

In previous years, the former Director of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, played the role of mediator between the UAE and Hezbollah, to discuss the issue of the two positions and its security and humanitarian dimensions.

About 11 detainees were released in 2021. In mid-2023, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry announced the release of approximately 10 Lebanese after being detained for two months, weeks after the news of the death of the Lebanese detainee in Emirati prisons, Ghazi Ezz El-Din.

Safa's name is linked to sensitive internal and external files with Hezbollah's opponents (social media)

Safa's turn

Currently, for the first time, direct and public discussions are being launched between the two parties without an intermediary. In a brief official statement, Hezbollah said yesterday, Thursday, “The official of the Liaison and Coordination Unit, Hajj Wafiq Safa, visited the UAE as part of the ongoing follow-up to address the file of a number of Lebanese detainees there, where he met with a number of officials concerned with the file, and it is hoped that a conclusion will be reached.” “required.”

Since he assumed the position of head of the party's coordination and liaison unit in the early 1990s, Safa's name has become prominent in sensitive internal and external files with the party's opponents. He also played a prominent role in previous prisoner exchange files with Israel.

The most notable of these was in 2008, when a deal was made to exchange the bodies of the two Israeli soldiers held captive by the party through German mediation - after their captivity lit the fuse of the July 2006 war - in exchange for Tel Aviv’s release of 5 Lebanese prisoners, most notably Samir Kuntar, and the remains of about 199 Lebanese and Palestinians.

What are the implications of a visit by one of Hezbollah’s most prominent officials to the UAE, in terms and timing?

Writer and political analyst Ibrahim Bayram describes Safa’s visit as “very remarkable” as it came between the UAE, “the most prominent normalizers with Israel,” and Hezbollah, the most vocal opponents of normalization.

But he believes - via Al Jazeera Net - that the party does not take such a step without studying its various aspects, and it is likely that it will be with Iranian blessing and Syrian mediation, stressing the party’s commitment to its broad title, which is the release of detainees.

Bayram says, "The visit of Hezbollah's most difficult mission holder may be the beginning of a new phase that goes beyond his relationship with the UAE to his relationship with the Gulf system in general, especially Saudi Arabia."

For his part, writer and political analyst Asaad Bishara, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, believes that the arrival of a private plane from the Emirates to transport Safa was the most prominent message regarding the level and importance of the visit.

But he believes that the UAE is firm in its regional positions, while the party is changing its positioning with this visit. He says, "Perhaps the party realized the importance of being pragmatic and eliminating its hostilities with Gulf countries, after sensing a threat threatening it internationally and regionally, since its involvement in confronting Israel after the Gaza war."

Hajj Wafiq Safa is in the Emirates to release the detainees, and in Lebanon there are people upset by Al-Khabariya #Lebanon #UAE #Beirut #Wafiq_Safa #Hezbollah #Dubai #Abu_Dhabi pic.twitter.com/0p1KGckskY

- abdallah chamseldeen (@chamseldeen) March 20, 2024

Political breach

As for the writer and political analyst Hussein Ayoub, he considered, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that Safa’s visit means, with its timing, form and content, a major political breach in the wall of the Gulf boycott of Lebanon, of which the UAE was an integral part, and it came against the backdrop of accusing the party of being involved in a number of crises in the region, such as Syria. And Yemen.

This visit, in Ayoub’s opinion, cannot take place in a climate of regional conflict, and therefore “it is shaded by the climate of American-Iranian détente on the one hand, and the Gulf-Iranian, especially Saudi-Iranian, on the other hand, and is inevitably affected by the climate of Gulf openness to Damascus and the efforts aimed at resolving the Yemen crisis.” .

Bishara returns and believes that the return of Emirati-Syrian relations, with Tehran maintaining a warm economic relationship with Abu Dhabi, as its investments there increased after Israeli-Emirati normalization, may mean that these two parties, i.e. Iran and Syria, have the first hand in visiting Safa.

Writer Ibrahim Bayram confirms that the visit is linked to what was stated in the party’s statement regarding seeking the release of the detainees, and finds in it the beginning of a major Emirati concession on placing Hezbollah on the terrorist list, and its recognition as a strong and essential player in the region.

He says, "The tension in Lebanese-Gulf relations was centered on Hezbollah, and it appears that there is a reconsideration of the state of hostility with the party on an open path that began months ago behind the scenes."

If the UAE releases the detainees, Bayram believes that the maximum price that Hezbollah will pay is to calm its attacks with its political rhetoric on some Gulf countries only, especially with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and that the UAE’s openness to the party will constitute annoyance and challenge to Israel.

While Ayoub believes that the function of the visit is specific, and its goal is to resolve the issue of the detainees, the origin of the matter did not begin that way.

He says, "The Emiratis knocked on Hezbollah's doors more than two years ago, specifically before the completion of the demarcation of the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel, and it coincided with Abu Dhabi's announcement of huge investments in the eastern Mediterranean oil fields, including about a billion dollars in one of the fields north of Israel."

The price

Ayoub adds that the Emiratis tried through several channels to open a direct dialogue with Hezbollah, and the party’s response was to assign Major General Abbas Ibrahim to convey a message to the Emiratis that there is no dialogue before the detainees are released.

Indeed, according to the writer, Ibrahim succeeded at that time in releasing Lebanese from several sects, all of whom had not been sentenced to any sentences. However, the file remained open due to the presence of more than 10 other detainees, against whom sentences were issued, some of which could reach life imprisonment.

These people, according to Ayoub’s information, “are among those who are now being attempted to be released before, during, or shortly after Eid al-Fitr, according to amnesty decisions issued by President Mohammed bin Zayed, instead of taking the judicial process, which takes years.” Therefore, the same spokesman confirms that the visit is a beginning, but it will open the doors to political dialogue between Hezbollah and Abu Dhabi.

⁠He talks about 3 countries supporting the dialogue: Iran “due to its close relations with the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, which Abu Dhabi would not have been able to engage in such an issue” had it not been for the Saudi green light, “and Syria, which only encouraged the two sides without having a direct role.”

As for the corresponding price, according to political analyst Ayoub, it is related to a basic question: Why do the Emiratis want to open a dialogue with Hezbollah and will they conduct this dialogue without an American and Israeli green light?

He answers, "There are very large Emirati interests in the region, especially in the maritime transport sectors (ports and gas fields), and I believe they are accumulating in this direction at the level of the Eastern Mediterranean region." However, the writer does not link Safa's visit to the Emirates to the ignition of the southern front, "with evidence that the Israelis are transmitting their messages through the Americans and Europeans."

Source: Al Jazeera