KSA Lifts Eight-Year Travel Warning for Lebanon

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday lifted a travel warning for Lebanon that remained in place for eight years, as a senior royal envoy visited the country.

“In light of the end of the security reasons that had prompted us to issue a travel warning and as a result of the reassurances we have heard from the Lebanese authorities, we are lifting our travel warning for Lebanon,” Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari announced.

Bukhari made his announcement after meeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri along with the royal envoy, Nizar al-Aloula.

The kingdom had called on its citizens to refrain from traveling to Lebanon upon the eruption of the Syrian war in 2011, repeating its warning several times in light of deadly bombings and kidnap incidents that rocked Lebanon.

The latest travel warning was issued in 2017 amid an unprecedented diplomatic confrontation that followed Prime Minister Saad Hariri's shock resignation from the kingdom.

Most Gulf countries have also issued travel warnings for their citizens in recent years amid tensions with Iran and its Lebanese ally Hizbullah.