Saudi Arabia bans Lebanese imports and expels ambassador

Saudi Arabia bans Lebanese imports and expels ambassador

Saudi Arabia has banned imports from Lebanon and expelled its ambassador in retaliation for criticism of its military intervention in Yemen by Beirut’s new information minister.

The move is a serious blow to the country, which is in the second year of a severe economic crisis that has pushed well over half the population below the poverty line.

Riyadh on Friday gave Fawzi Kabbara 48 hours to leave and recalled its ambassador from Beirut for consultations. Bahrain, a close Saudi Arabian ally, also expelled Lebanon’s ambassador. On Saturday Kuwait gave the Lebanese chargés d’affaires 48 hours to leave.

The diplomatic crisis is the result of years of souring relations between the two countries that is rooted in the increasing power of Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed militant movement that has political and paramilitary wings and has been designated as a terrorist organisation by Saudi Arabia and the US.

“Of course it’s [about] Hizbollah,” one senior Arab diplomat said.

Saudi Arabia’s ministry of foreign affairs cited “damaging” comments made by Lebanese minister of information Georges Kordahi in August, before he took office, as well Lebanon’s failure to take measures it had demanded “to stop the . . . scourge of drugs from Lebanon” arriving in the kingdom.

A television personality connected to Lebanon’s pro-Hizbollah