Kuwaiti ambassador visits Dar al-Fatwa

BEIRUT — Kuwait's ambassador to Beirut, Abdel Aal al-Kinai, who returned to Beirut last Friday, said Tuesday in a visit to Dar al-Fatwa that his country "stands alongside Lebanon and at the heart of the ordeal that it is going throuh.” The Kuwaiti ambassador’s comments came following the diplomatic return of Saudi Arabia to Beirut after months of poor relations between Lebanon and some Gulf countries.

Here’s what we know:

    • "Kuwait stands with Lebanon and at the heart of the ordeal it is going through," said Kinai, who also said that he “hoped that stability and prosperity will reign in Lebanon and that the crises it is going through will be resolved,” the state-run National News Agency. For his part, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian praised "the pioneering role played by Kuwait in Lebanon and in the region," as well as "the initiative of the head of Kuwaiti diplomacy, who made the first step towards the restoration of fraternal ties between Lebanon and its Arab brothers.”

    • Kinai also held talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Tuesday.

    • On Monday, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Lebanon, Walid Bukhari, who also returned to Beirut on Friday, formalized the kingdom's return to the local scene. After a tour of several religious leaders and an interview with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and held an iftar at the headquarters many political leaders and a number of ambassadors. "Relations have never been broken with Lebanon," he said, adding that the ambassador's absence "was a diplomatic measure aimed at expressing some dissatisfaction after positions taken against Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries".

    • The already tense relationship between Lebanon and the Gulf countries was exacerbated following comments by then-Information Minister George Kurdahi about the Saudi war in Yemen.