Lebanon: minister orders removal of posters ‘offensive’ to Saudi Arabia 

Lebanon’s Minister of Interior and Municipalities has ordered all posters deemed to be offensive to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be removed from streets in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Bassam Mawlawi issued the order earlier today.

According to the interior ministry, Mawlawi instructed the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces to remove the “offensive” pictures of Saudi King Salman and the Kingdom’s ambassador in Beirut. He called on Lebanese citizens to “prioritise the national interest and spare Lebanon and Lebanese expatriates the consequences of offending their Arab brothers.”

Posters and banners insulting the Saudi monarch and Ambassador Walid Al-Bukhari were put up on Tuesday across predominantly Shia areas of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. They appeared a day after the Secretary-General of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, used a televised speech to accuse Saudi Arabia of spreading extremism and terrorism in the region.

Responding to Nasrallah’s statements, Prime Minister Najib Mikati pointed out that they did not represent the position of the Lebanese government.

READ: Lebanese government distances itself from Hezbollah criticism of Saudi Arabia