Kuwaiti Speaker Assures Aoun ‘No Travel Ban to Lebanon’, Later Meets Berri

Kuwait's National Assembly Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim affirmed on Friday during talks with President Michel Aoun there is no travel advisory against Lebanon, the National News Agency reported.

“There is no travel ban on Kuwaiti nationals to visit Lebanon,” said Ghanim during talks with Aoun at the Presidential Palace in Baabda.

In November, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab States, and Bahrain issued advisories against travel to Lebanon amid a Lebanese-Saudi crisis sparked by Prime Minister Saad Hariri's controversial resignation from Riyadh which he has since rescinded.

Several Lebanon travel warnings have been issued by the Gulf states in recent years amid political tensions and security fears.

But in May, Hariri announced that Gulf states may soon lift the travel bans they had imposed on Lebanon in recent years.

For his part, Aoun hailed Kuwait’s role and said “Emir of Kuwait's interest in Lebanon reflects in the permanent support in Arab, regional and international forums.”

On the crisis of refugees, he said “the Lebanese always wonder about the international community’s lack of response regarding the return of Syrian refugees to safe areas in Syria.”

Later during the day, Speaker Nabih Berri received Ghanim in Ain el-Tineh. Discussions have reportedly touched on the general developments.

For his part, Ghanim stressed his country’s continued support for Lebanon “we will never let Lebanon stand alone. Kuwaiti nationals will never forget Lebanon’s honorable stance during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.”