Qatar deplores Lebanese minister’s Yemen remarks

TNN & QNA Doha Qatar on Saturday expressed its “extreme surprise and denunciation” of the Lebanese information minister’s comments on Yemen war, as more co...

TNN & QNADohaQatar on Saturday expressed its “extreme surprise and denunciation” of the Lebanese information minister’s comments on Yemen war, as more countries joined Saudi Arabia to withdraw its diplomats from Beirut.The Information Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar in a statement said it considered the stand of the new Lebanese Minister of Information “an irresponsible position towards his country and Arab issues alike”, adding that “he should not have plunged brotherly Lebanon into external crises”.Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the Lebanese government to urgently and decisively take the necessary measures in this regard to calm the situation and to quickly heal the rift between the brothers, the statement said.Videos began circulating online this week of a television interview given by the Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi in early August, just over a month before joining the government, in which he said Houthis are “defending themselves … against an external aggression”. The former celebrity TV presenter also said the long-running war was “futile” and called for it to end.Saudi Arabia expelled Lebanon’s envoy and banned all Lebanese imports on Friday, and Bahrain and Kuwait followed suit on Saturday, giving the top Lebanese diplomats 48 hours to exit. The UAE also advised its citizens not to travel to Lebanon.