Saudi ambassador: Citizens asked to leave due to Ain Al-Hilweh events
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The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon says that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's call for its citizens to leave Lebanon came against the backdrop of the events of the Ain al-Hilweh camp.
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The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Waleed Bukhari. (File photo/AFP)
The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Waleed Bukhari, said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's call on its citizens to leave Lebanon came against the backdrop of the recent events at the Ain al-Hilweh camp.
Bukhari added that the Kingdom will always encourage tourism in Lebanon and that the coming period "will prove that."
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati had earlier said that "the security services do not indicate that there is any exceptional security situation."
Mikati asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to communicate with Arab countries to reassure them about the safety of their citizens in Lebanon, and also asked the Minister of Interior to take appropriate measures and decisions to maintain security in all Lebanese regions.
The Saudi Embassy in Lebanon, late Friday-Saturday evening, called on Saudi citizens to leave Lebanese territory, warning them not to approach areas witnessing armed conflicts.
Furthermore, the embassy demanded their "citizens to quickly leave Lebanese territory, and the importance of adhering to the decision to prevent Saudis from traveling to Lebanon."
In its tweet, the embassy attached numbers to contact in case of "emergency cases."
تود السفارة تحذير المواطنين الكرام من التواجد والاقتراب من المناطق التي تشهد نزاعات مسلحة، كما تطالب المواطنين بسرعة مغادرة الأراضي اللبنانية pic.twitter.com/QNeaPqnZBa
— السفارة السعودية لدى لبنان (@KSAembassyLB) August 4, 2023
However, the embassy did not specify the areas that should be avoided. At the beginning of August, however, Riyadh updated its travel directions to Lebanon and advised avoiding "all kinds of unnecessary travel" to areas in southern Lebanon near the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp located in Saida.
The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, confirmed to Al Mayadeen on Sunday that the country's security status does not thing necessitate such a diplomatic statement, which calls on citizens to leave Lebanon.
Berri expressed his surprise, saying that limiting the warning to areas of clashes near Ain al-Hilweh "can be understood," but the call for the nationals to leave is "incomprehensible," noting that the situation in Ain al-Hilweh has been calm for three days, "so why those warning statements?"
Read next: Over 12,000 children in Ain Al-Hilweh displaced due to clashes
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Germany had issued warning statements to their nationals in Lebanon, and asked them to take caution, while Riyadh called on its citizens to cancel trips to Lebanon or leave it.
This comes days after clashes broke out in the Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp between the Fatah movement and extremist militants after an assassination attempt that targeted Abu Qatada, an official of one of the camp's militant groups. The clashes intensified after the assassination of Al-Armoushi and four of his companions.
An official from the Fatah movement told Al Mayadeen's correspondent that Al-Armoushi's assassination had been planned in advance, adding that the main premise to the solution in Ain Al-Hilweh is the extradition of the one who assassinated the leader.
