KSA inclined to lift Lebanon travel ban on 1st day of Eid al-Adha

Saudi Arabia is inclined to lift the ban on the travel of its citizens to Lebanon on the first day of Eid al-Adha, which is expected to be marked on June 6, Al-Jadeed TV reported on Wednesday.

LBCI television had reported Tuesday that “a specialized technical Saudi committee will visit Lebanon in the coming weeks to study the obstacles standing in the way of the travel of Saudi tourists and to find the appropriate mechanisms for addressing them.”

Two Emirati passenger planes landed Wednesday at the Rafik Hariri International Airport after the UAE lifted its travel ban on Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported Tuesday that after the UAE allowed its citizens to travel to Lebanon, the fellow countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council are inclined to follow suit in the near future.

“Intensive meetings are being held with political and security officials, most notably the meeting that PM Nawaf Salam will hold today (Tuesday) with the GCC ambassadors to explain the measures that the Lebanese state has taken at the airport, its vicinity and along the road leading to it with the aim of reassuring these countries before they take the ban lifting decisions,” the daily quoted a “highly informed source” as saying.

In 2021, the United Arab Emirates imposed the travel ban and withdrew diplomats from Beirut in solidarity with Saudi Arabia, after a Lebanese minister criticized the Riyadh-led military intervention in Yemen.

Ties between Beirut and the Gulf countries had soured in the past decade over Hezbollah's influence on Lebanon.

But with the group weakened by its recent war with Israel, several Gulf countries have renewed their interest in Lebanon.

In March, Saudi Arabia said it would review "obstacles" to resuming Lebanese imports and ending a ban on its citizens visiting Lebanon, following a visit by President Joseph Aoun to the kingdom.