Mansour Presses Diplomats of Gulf Countries to Review their Decisions

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour held talks on Tuesday with diplomats of three Gulf countries that have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon in his ongoing effort to persuade them to review their decisions.

The current security tension in Lebanon is provisional and does not require such decisions, Mansour reportedly told the ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.

Their foreign ministries, in addition to that of Bahrain, have called on their citizens not to go to Lebanon and for those who are in the country to leave after clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in the northern port city of Tripoli left several people dead.

The minister expressed hope that the Gulf states would review their decisions and expected the warning to be temporary, the Kuwaiti ambassador told reporters after the meeting.

Deadly fighting also erupted in Beirut on Sunday night after Lebanese soldiers killed Sunni clerics Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and Sheikh Mohammed al-Merheb at a checkpoint in the northern Lebanese town of al-Kweikhat.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Mansour have already contacted the diplomats and officials of the countries concerned. “The contacts will intensify in the next few days to resolve this problem,” the Lebanese foreign minister told As Safir daily.

“The most important thing now is for the Lebanese to prove that their country is stable and safe,” he said.