Kuwait to Limit Visas for Lebanese over Gulf Row

Kuwait is to limit the number of visas it issues for Lebanese nationals as a diplomatic row festers between Beirut and Gulf states, a security source in the emirate said Wednesday.

"A verbal decision has been taken to be stricter in granting tourist and business visas to Lebanese," the source told AFP, asking not to be identified.

The source stressed that no official decision had been made and that visas for visitors from Lebanon have not been suspended.

Kuwaiti newspaper al-Qabas had earlier reported that the Kuwaiti interior ministry had "suspended the issuance of all types of visas for Lebanese nationals until further announcement."

“The Lebanese who have residency permits in the country are not included in the decision and they have the right to return to the country,” al-Qabas quoted Kuwaiti security sources as saying.

Like neighboring Saudi Arabia, Kuwait recalled its ambassador from Beirut after Lebanon's information minister criticized a Riyadh-led military intervention in the Yemen conflict, sparking a row with Gulf states.

Kuwait, home to some 50,000 Lebanese, has also asked Beirut's charge d'affaires, its highest-ranking diplomat in the emirate, to leave the country.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese work in Gulf Arab states including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain.

The row has turned into a showdown over Lebanon's Hizbullah, which is backed by Iran, the regional rival of Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has said Hizbullah's "dominance" of Lebanese politics made "dealing with Lebanon pointless for the kingdom."

Kuwait, which has a sizable Shiite community, is currently holding 16 of its own nationals suspected of helping to finance Hizbullah, according to local media.

In 2015, Kuwait said it dismantled a cell accused of collusion with Iran and Hizbullah.