Lebanon PM urges ministers to 'put patriotic sense above all else'

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has urged Information Minister George Kordahi to “put his patriotic sense above all else” to defuse a crisis with Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV channel citing him as saying today.

Riyadh on Friday expelled Lebanon’s envoy and banned all Lebanese imports, in protest at comments made by Kordahi critical of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. Bahrain and Kuwait followed suit while the United Arab Emirates withdrew its diplomats from Beirut.

READ: Is Lebanon the latest battlefield in the war between Saudi Arabia and Iran?

Lebanese TV channel Al Jadeed cited Kordahi as saying yesterday that resigning from the Mikati government was out of the question.

Footage from August, aired last week showed Kordahi describing the war against Yemen as one of aggression by the Saudi-led coalition, branding the conflict as “futile” and said the Houthis were acting in “self-defence”.