UAE Decides to Deport 70 Lebanese, Foreign Ministry Stresses They were 'Abiding by Emirati Laws'
The United Arab Emirates will expel 70 Lebanese nationals, mostly Shiites, within the next 24 hours, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said Friday.
"The ministry of foreign affairs was informed by the Lebanese embassy in the Emirates that 70 Lebanese will be deported by the authorities in the next 24 hours," Bassil told Agence France Presse.
He was unable to give a reason for the expulsions.
For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a statement Friday that Bassil had on Thursday informed Prime Minister Tammam Salam and the cabinet during its session of the development.
He then held a series of contacts over the issue, which involved a phone call with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the ministry added.
It underlined in its statement that it has recently sought to “return the Lebanese-UAE ties to their best form.”
“This was reflected in reappointing an Emirati ambassador to Lebanon and in launching a discussion over all consular, diplomatic and political disputes,” the Lebanese ministry added.
It also explained that “the Lebanese living in the UAE are fully integrated in the Emirati society and they abide by the Emirati laws,” describing them as “an element of welfare and prosperity for this dear country.”
Sixty-three of those to be deported are Shiites, according to a senior Lebanese official who did not want to be named.
The news first erupted when LBCI said on Thursday that the UAE authorities had given the Lebanese nationals 24 hours to leave the country.
Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said their number is much higher.
Around 130 families that live in Abu Dhabi, Ajman and Sharjah were told to leave, it added.
An official in the UAE, which hosts more than 100,000 Lebanese workers, declined to comment.
Hassan Alayan, who was told to leave the UAE in 2009 and who now heads a committee representing expelled Lebanese, said he is following up the issue with Lebanese officials.
“Such deportation decisions had been frozen in the past years despite some secret expulsions,” he said.
The expelled Lebanese claim that some Gulf states are deliberately targeting Shiites to put pressure on the “economic nerve” of the communities that support Hizbullah.
In 2009, dozens of Lebanese Shiites who had lived in the UAE for years were expelled on suspicion of links with Hizbullah.
In 2013, Qatar deported 18 Lebanese nationals after the Gulf Cooperation Council decided to impose sanctions against Hizbullah for its military intervention in war-torn Syria to support President Bashar Assad.
The UAE was criticized by Sunni Islamists for not including Hizbullah on a list of 83 "terrorist" organizations it published in November.
G.K./Y.R.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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