The Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Beirut, Walid Boukhari, visits the commander of the Lebanese Army, Rofolphe Haykal, on May 5, 2025, in Yarzeh. (Credit: Lebanese Army)
The Saudi ambassador to Beirut, Walid Boukhari, visited the commander of the Lebanese Army, Rodolphe Haykal, on Monday to discuss the situation in Lebanon and the region.
He then visited the Progressive Socialist Party MP Marwan Hamadeh, who emphasized the role of Riyadh "in the interest of the Arab identity of Lebanon and Syria," especially after the attacks involving Druze militiamen in Syria last week.
Also on Monday, Sheikh Aql Sami Abi al-Mona, spiritual leader of the Druze community, was met by the former president of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Joumblatt, with whom he discussed the latest developments in Syria. During the day, the Druze sheikh also met the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert. He expressed his wish that the U.N. would "help to ensure that what happened [in Syria] does not happen again, to exert pressure to protect civilians," reported the NNA.
Joumblatt, who has made the issue of the Syrian Druze his priority, traveled to Damascus on Friday. There, he met with the new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, following deadly communal clashes earlier in the week between Druze militiamen and armed groups linked to the new power, which resulted in more than 100 deaths according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
On Friday, an Israeli strike targeted an area neighboring the presidential palace in Damascus, in "a clear message sent to the Syrian regime" after the attacks on the Druze minority for which Israeli leaders have advocated.