DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates will carry a ban on its residents travelling to Lebanon that was imposed throughout a diplomatic row in 2021, in accordance with a joint assertion on Thursday.
The choice was introduced a day after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met along with his UAE counterpart Mohamed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi. “The 2 sides agreed to permit residents to journey after taking crucial measures to facilitate motion between the 2 international locations and setting up applicable mechanisms,” the assertion stated.
In 2021, the UAE imposed a journey ban on its residents and withdrew diplomats from Beirut in solidarity with Saudi Arabia after a Lebanese minister criticised the Riyadh-led army intervention in Yemen.
Lebanese residents weren’t banned from travelling to the UAE, though some skilled difficulties acquiring visas. The Abu Dhabi Fund for Improvement, which helps infrastructure tasks in growing international locations, will ship a delegation to Lebanon to review potential joint tasks, the assertion stated.
Ties between Beirut and Abu Dhabi soured prior to now decade over Hezbollah’s affect on Lebanon. However with the group weakened by its latest warfare with Israel, the UAE is the most recent Gulf nation to resume its curiosity in Lebanon.
In March, Saudi Arabia stated it could evaluate “obstacles” to resuming Lebanese imports and ending a ban on its nationals visiting Lebanon. That announcement got here after Aoun met Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on his first journey overseas since taking workplace in January.
Aoun, the popular candidate of each Riyadh and Washington, was elected after the weakening of Hezbollah and the overthrow of the group’s ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria shifted the stability of energy in Lebanon.
