Dozens of Lebanese employees have been fired from their jobs in Saudi Arabia, media reports said on Thursday, amid an unprecedented rift in the Saudi-Lebanese relations.
“Around 90 Lebanese citizens have been informed by their employers in Saudi Arabia that they have been laid off,” MTV reported in the afternoon.
The head of the Lebanese-Saudi Business Development Commission, Elie Rizk, confirmed the news to LBCI television.
“Nearly 90 Lebanese from all affiliations and sects have been sacked,” he said.
Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) also reported that around 90 Lebanese have been fired while noting that no decision has been taken to "deport" the laid off employees.
The development is likely linked to the series of measures that Riyadh has taken in recent days in response to verbal attacks from Hizbullah over the wars in Syria and Yemen as well as recent diplomatic stances by Lebanon’s foreign ministry.
The measures started last Friday when the Saudi foreign ministry announced that the kingdom was halting around $4 billion in military aid to the Lebanese army and security forces.
On Tuesday, the kingdom advised its citizens against travel to Lebanon and urged those already in the country to leave it, citing “safety” concerns. The rest of the Arab Gulf countries except for Oman followed suit on Tuesday and Wednesday, issuing similar travel warnings.
Announcing the Saudi aid halt on Friday, an official said the kingdom had noticed "hostile Lebanese positions resulting from the stranglehold of Hizbullah on the state."
Riyadh was making "a comprehensive review of its relations with the Lebanese republic," the unnamed official said, cited by the Saudi Press Agency.
The Saudi official also said that Lebanon had not joined condemnation of the attacks on Riyadh’s diplomatic missions in Iran, neither at the Arab League nor at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly accused Riyadh of backing terrorist groups in Yemen, Iraq and Syria and a Hizbullah statement has linked the Saudi backlash to economic pressures from the war in Yemen and lower oil revenues.
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