UAE to lift Lebanon travel ban ‘soon’

The UAE Ambassador to Lebanon, Hamad Said Al-Shamsi, said yesterday that his country would lift the ban on its citizens travelling to Lebanon “soon”.

Al-Shamsi told reporters after a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister, Gebran Bassil, in Beirut that a team from the UAE Department of Civil Aviation will meet with its Lebanese counterparts in the Directorate of Civil Aviation to review technical issues, pointing out that the relationship with Lebanon is “good”.

“Communication continues with everyone at the highest level. What is important to us is the stability of Lebanon and we support it in this direction,” he said.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced in February that it was banning citizens from traveling to Lebanon and will significantly reduce its diplomatic mission there, as tensions grow between countries in the region over an ongoing dispute with Iran.

Weeks earlier Saudi Arabia announced that it had lifted its ban on travel to Lebanon after it was in place for a year.

In November 2017, the UAE and Bahrain warned their citizens not to travel to Lebanon after Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned from the government while in Saudi Arabia.

READ: UAE dissatisfied with Saudi policy in Lebanon