Joumblatt calls for restoration of relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries

BEIRUT — Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt urged the Lebanese government on Monday to “restore relations” with the Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, following the diplomatic crisis triggered last October by remarks by the former Information Minister George Kurdahi on Saudi Arabia’s role in the war in Yemen.

Here’s what we know:

    • “Lebanon's relations with Arab countries guarantee its identity, its persistence and its political and financial recovery,” said the Druze leader to al-Anba’ newspaper. He noted that “restoring Lebanon’s relations with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council is a high priority” and hoped that the country “would return to the Arab fold.”

    • Jumblatt also called on the government to “extend all possible efforts to repair these relations with the GCC countries, Saudi Arabia in the lead, with a view to removing any problem that prevents the restoration of relations as they were in the past.”

    • Relations between Lebanon and the Gulf have yet to be restored since their breakdown in October, despite efforts to find a resolution. Kuwait in January sent an Arab roadmap to Lebanon with a view to settling this diplomatic crisis. This document requests the disarmament of Hezbollah and calls for holding the legislative elections in May among other things.