Report: Saudi Embassy in Beirut Ups Security Measures

The embassy of Saudi Arabia in Beirut has taken precautionary security measures three days ago in light of the threats that the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri has received lately, An Nahar daily reported on Saturday.

The security measures were taken ahead of an incident that took place at the offices of the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat when a group of young men stormed its Beirut offices in protest at a cartoon deemed insulting to Lebanon, added the daily.

Asharq al-Awsat assured that it will keep its offices open in Beirut and held the Lebanese authorities responsible for preserving the safety of its employees at its offices.

The security measures around the Saudi Embassy were also taken before the Saudi owned al-Arabiya television news channel said on Friday that it has shut down its office in Beirut citing security reasons.

In a statement, the Dubai-based channel said it has "restructured" its operations in Lebanon "due to the difficult circumstances and challenges on ground, and out of al-Arabiya's concern for the safety of its own employees and those employed by its providers."

It said it would nonetheless "continue to closely cover Lebanese affairs."

Reports have said that the news channel may have shut its offices as a new sign of tensions between the kingdom and the Iran-backed Hizbullah movement.

Relations between Riyadh and Lebanon deteriorated in February, when Saudi Arabia halted a grant to the army in protest against Hizbullah's virulent criticism of the kingdom and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil's abstention from voting in favor of Arab League resolutions condemning attacks against the Saudi embassy in Iran in January.

The kingdom urged its citizens against traveling to Lebanon. Gulf countries also issued similar advisories.

Furthermore, in March the Arab League declared Iran ally Hizbullah a "terrorist" group, after Gulf monarchies adopted the same stance over the movement's support for the regime in Syria's war.