Pro-Hizbullah Journalists Banned from Entering Gulf as Saudi Mulls Deporting 400 Lebanese
After the UAE expelled more than 70 Lebanese citizens in March, Saudi Arabia is contemplating the deportation of hundreds of Lebanese expats amid a heated row with Hizbullah over the Riyadh-led military operation in Yemen.
According to information obtained by Naharnet, Saudi authorities are assessing the situations of around 400 Lebanese nationals who might be deported soon from the kingdom.
Naharnet has also learned that the Saudi labor ministry is inclined to revoke the residency permit of Samar Khayat, the wife of al-Jadeed TV owner Tahsin Khayat.
She owns a Saudi-based event management company.
Furthermore, a number of pro-Hizbullah Lebanese and Arab journalists have also been barred from entering Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states.
They include Lebanese journalist Ghassan Jawad, according to the information.
Jawad is close to Hizbullah and is known for his fiery statements against Saudi Arabia. He had recently slammed the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen during an interview on MTV.
Around 70 Lebanese citizens, mostly Shiites, were deported in mid-March from the United Arab Emirates, prior to the Emirati participation in the Saudi-led campaign.
Hundreds of Lebanese have been quietly deported from the UAE since 2009.
Deportations of Shiites from oil-rich Gulf states rose in 2013 after Hizbullah joined Syrian government forces in Syria's civil war.
The developments come amid a war of words between Hizbullah and Saudi Arabia over the Yemeni conflict.
“I do not believe that Yemen is any of Hizbullah's concern,” Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri said in remarks to As Safir newspaper that were published Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes in Yemen on March 25, announcing that it had put together a coalition of more than 10 countries, including five Gulf monarchies, for the military operation to defend Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansur Hadi's government against Huthi rebels.
The military move against the Shiite rebels triggered fury from Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, Hizbullah's main regional ally, with officials in Tehran warning that the military action threatened to spill over into other countries.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has fiercely slammed the kingdom's offensive, promising Riyadh that it will suffer a “major defeat.” Other Hizbullah officials have also blasted the Saudi-led operation.
Y.R.
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