Bechara al-Rai speaks with ambassadors Fawzi Kabbara and Milad Namour. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s ambassadors to Saudi Arabia, Fawzi Kabbara, and to Bahrain, Milad Namour, warned Wednesday that the measures taken against Lebanese citizens in Gulf countries are “serious” and “will worsen in the days to come.” Kabbara and Namour were both expelled from their posts in late October following a diplomatic crisis triggered by the airing of comments by Lebanese Information Minister George Kurdahi on Saudi intervention in the war in Yemen.
Here’s what we know:
• According to the state-run National News Agency, the ambassadors said after a meeting with the head of the Maronite Church, Bechara al-Rai, that “the latest diplomatic crisis caused by the words of Minister Kurdahi is worsening day by day, especially after the cessation of granting visas to the Lebanese and the halt of Lebanese imports.”
• Commenting on the measures taken against the Lebanese residing in the Gulf countries, the NNA cites the diplomats as saying, “the matter is serious and will worsen in the coming period.” “This will have catastrophic repercussions, as Lebanon’s imports from Saudi Arabia amount to $600 million annually,” they stressed, adding that “Lebanese factories will risk closing their doors.”
• “The solution is to take the necessary measures to return to the ordinary course of things,” the NNA quotes them as saying. “This is what was discussed with Patriarch Rai, there was an assurance about the role of the Gulf countries in helping Lebanon, supporting its economy, and the need to accelerate the return to the order of things before the gap widens.”
• Kabbara and Namour, joined by Lebanon’s ambassador to Kuwait, Hadi Hashem, also met two days ago with President Michel Aoun to discuss the crisis. Aoun said that “efforts are underway to address the situation between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia and some Gulf countries, based on the principle that Lebanon wants to have the best relations with its Gulf neighbors.”
• Several Gulf countries have taken retaliatory measures against Lebanon, including Saudi Arabia which recalled its ambassador and stopped all Lebanese imports. On Monday, reports surfaced that Kuwaiti State Security had drawn up a list of 100 foreign nationals residing in its territory, mostly Lebanese, who will be prohibited from renewing their residence permits in the country. Last Thursday, the Kuwaiti authorities had also announced that they would tighten the conditions for obtaining visas for Lebanese passport holders.