Analysis-Lebanon is dragged back into eye of Iranian-Saudi storm

FILE PHOTO: A man walks near a newspaper with a headline that reads " Saudi Arabia announces a boycott with Lebanon" in Beirut, Lebanon, October 30, 2021. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Already mired in economic collapse, Lebanon is facing a blast of Gulf Arab anger after a prominent broadcaster-turned-minister levelled blunt criticism at Saudi Arabia, in a row that has further strained Beirut's ties with once generous benefactors.

Many ordinary Lebanese fear it is they who will pay the price for the diplomatic deep freeze provoked by the latest spat, which has roots in a long-running rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran that underpins conflicts across the Middle East.