Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, center, Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Abou al-Ghaith, left, pose with other foreign ministers and representatives of Arab states during an advisory meeting of the Arab League in Beirut, July 2, 2022. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — During a press conference Saturday, Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Abou al-Ghaith vowed that his organization would support Lebanon. The statement was issued after Abou al-Ghaith’s meeting with President Michel Aoun, who in turn announced aims for “greater cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council,” local media reported.
Here’s what we know:
• Ghaith’s visit to Lebanon is part of a consultative meeting of Arab foreign ministers scheduled for Saturday in preparation for an Arab League summit in Algeria in November, hosted in Beirut to “express support for the Lebanese government and the Lebanese people.”
• During a dinner in honor of Arab Foreign Ministers on Friday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for the support of “brother Arab states, specifically those of the GCC,” saying that “Lebanon is committed to executing GCC and Arab League decisions to strengthen policies distancing [Lebanon] from all Arab conflicts, extending the state’s sovereignty over all its territory and preventing all hostilities or threats to the security of Arab countries,” L’Orient Today’s correspondent reported.
• Kuwaiti Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammad Al-Sabah conveyed a message to Aoun Saturday on behalf of Kuwaiti Crown Prince Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah welcoming the Lebanese state’s “positive response to the Kuwaiti initiative” which “helped re-establish ties between Lebanon and Gulf states and rebuild confidence with Lebanon.”
• Diplomatic ties between Lebanon and Gulf states were ruptured in October 2021 in a crisis sparked by controversial comments from Lebanon’s then-Information Minister about Riyadh’s intervention in Yemen, seen as an expression of the Gulf states’ objection to Hezbollah’s growing influence in the country. Kuwaiti diplomats attempted to resolve the crisis by proposing a roadmap, dubbed the “Kuwaiti Initiative,” which includes demands that Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon be curtailed.
• Following their visit to the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Arab diplomats headed to the Habtoor hotel, the conference venue, where a joint press conference headed by Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Ghaith is expected around 3:30pm Saturday.