BEIRUT: UAE’s prime minister assured his Lebanese counterpart Saturday that his country has no official policy of targeting Lebanese citizens, one day after the Gulf government decided to deport 70 families.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Tammam Salam raised the matter with his Emirati counterpart, Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, on the sidelines of an economic conference in Egypt.
According to a statement released by Salam’s office, Maktoum stressed that the “UAE has neither a policy nor an intention to target Lebanese residents.”
Maktoum highlighted the high numbers of Lebanese living in the UAE and their professional successes, the statement said.
“Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid clarified that if measures were taken against some Lebanese, they were certainly based on particular security concerns and do not exceed this limit,” it added.
Around 70 Lebanese citizens were notified by the Lebanese embassies in UAE of the decision to deport them with their families Thursday.
Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil Friday confirmed reports that the UAE had decided to deport the Lebanese individuals, adding that he had contacted his Emirati counterpart in a bid to resolve the matter.
Most of the Lebanese facing deportation are Shiites.
This was the third move of this kind by a Gulf nation in the past six years.
In 2009, dozens of Lebanese Shiites who had lived in the UAE for years were expelled on suspicion of links with Hezbollah.
In 2013, Qatar also expelled 18 Lebanese citizens, after the Gulf Cooperation Council imposed sanctions against Hezbollah for its military intervention in the Syrian war.
Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Bassil had contacted the UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and other relevant parties in an attempt to resolve the issue, and had briefed Salam on the discussions. The ministry said Bassil spoke about the issue during Thursday’s Cabinet session, sharing information he had received on the matter. The statement also said that the Foreign Ministry had tried to improve ties between Lebanon and the UAE, as evidenced by the recent reappointment of a Lebanese ambassador to the nation and bilateral discussions on consular, diplomatic and political problems.
Hasan Alayan, the head of a committee representing Lebanese nationals who have been expelled from the UAE in recent years, told The Daily Star Friday that the Lebanese were given 24 to 48 hours to leave the country.
Salam is heading a high-ranking Lebanese business delegation to Egypt.
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