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Kuwait, Qatar join in Lebanon travel boycott

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Days after Riyadh halted $4bn in aid to Beirut in response to “hostile” positions linked to Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, Kuwait and Qatar have become the latest Arab Gulf countries – following Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain – to call their citizens to leave Lebanon or avoid travelling there.

The moves by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states witnessed Doha’s foreign ministry, in a statement on Wednesday on the official Qatar News Agency, calling on it citizens in Lebanon to “leave for their own safety” and said no Qatari nationals should travel there.

Read also: S’Arabia, UAE ban citizens from travelling to Lebanon

Also, the Kuwaiti embassy in Lebanon’s capital Beirut earlier on Wednesday informed that all Kuwaitis should leave “except in extreme circumstances”, while also advising those who stay to exercise caution and avoid unspecified places which are not safe.

Giving reasons behind the aid halt to Lebanon, Saudi authorities said it had noticed “hostile Lebanese positions resulting from the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state”.
But many believe the major reason behind the aid halt could be Lebanon’s failure to condemn Iran’s aggression” after Saudi Arabia’s embassy was attacked in Tehran in January.
The embassy attack followed the execution of a renowned Shia leader in Saudi Arabia over “terrorism” charges.

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