DUBAI/BEIRUT, Jan 13 (Reuters) – A high-level Emirati delegation is in Lebanon to make arrangements for the reopening of the UAE’s embassy in Beirut after more than three years, state news agency WAM reported on Monday.
The arrival of the delegation on Sunday came a day after UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and newly elected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun agreed to take the necessary steps to reopen the embassy.
The UAE withdrew its diplomats from Lebanon and closed the embassy in October 2021, aligning with Saudi Arabia after Lebanon’s then-information minister criticised the Saudi-led coalition’s involvement in Yemen.
The Saudi foreign minister at the time pointed to Hezbollah’s dominance over Lebanese politics but most of the group’s top leadership has since been killed and many of its strongholds across Lebanon lie in ruins after a more than a year-long war with Israel.
President Aoun has said that countries including the UAE and Saudi Arabia are open to reestablishing diplomatic ties, Lebanon’s Deputy parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab said in a televised speech.
“The UAE will reopen its embassy very soon…thus there is hope for us to start a new page in Lebanon,” Bou Saab said.
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Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
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