Envoy expelled, imports banned as Saudi-Lebanon diplomatic crisis worsens

• Mikati cabinet in crisis as Saudi dispute spirals.
• Iran-backed Hezbollah issued statement in support of Kordahi.
• Ban on imports as Lebanon struggles with deep financial meltdown.
• Mikati asks minister to 'make right decision'.

BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia ordered the Lebanese ambassador to the kingdom to leave within 48 hours on Friday and banned all Lebanese imports in response to critical comments made by a Lebanese minister about the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.

The diplomatic rupture throws Lebanon's cabinet into further crisis as it tries to rally Arab support for its ailing economy.

Saudi Arabia also recalled its ambassador to Lebanon for consultations, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

Riyadh's decision comes days after an interview with Information Minister George Kordahi was aired by an online show affiliated with Qatar's al Jazeera network.

Kordahi, in comments made on August 5, called the war futile, said Yemen was subjected to an aggression and that its Iran-aligned Houthis were defending themselves.

The dispute is the latest challenge to Prime Minister Najib Mikati's cabinet which is already in political paralysis over a row around the Beirut port blast probe.

The rift risks widening to more Gulf states with Bahrain also asking Lebanon's ambassador to leave shortly after the Saudi decision.

Mikati, in a phone call with Kordahi on Friday evening, asked him to put the national interest first and "take the right decision to fix Arab relations with Lebanon," a statement by his office said.

Sources with knowledge of the matter had told Reuters the Saudi escalation was piling pressure on Kordahi to resign in order to avert further consequences.

Mikati earlier reiterated his government's commitment to good relations with Saudi Arabia and called for Arab partners to put the latest crisis behind them but stopped short of announcing concrete action to remedy the crisis.

"We also appeal brotherly Arab leaders to work and help to overcome this crisis in order to preserve Arab cohesion," the statement said.

Kordahi has said the show was recorded nearly a month before he took office and he would not resign over the incident.

Mikati has been hoping to improve ties with Gulf Arab states which have been strained for years because of the influence wielded in Beirut by Hezbollah.

"The control of the [...] Hezbollah on the decision-making of the Lebanese state made Lebanon an arena for implementing projects for countries that don't wish Lebanon and its people well," the statement carried by SPA said.

Hezbollah issued a statement praising Kordahi's comments on Thursday.

In April, Saudi Arabia banned all fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon blaming an increase in drug smuggling.

The ban added to the economic woes of Lebanon, already in the throes of one of the modern times' deepest financial crises.

Kuwait expels Lebanon envoy

Kuwait has also recalled its ambassador from Beirut and has given the Lebanese envoy 48 hours to leave the emirate, the foreign ministry said Saturday, quoted by state news agency KUNA.

"Kuwait recalls Amb. in Beirut, asks Lebanese envoy to leave country in 48 hours," the ministry said in a brief statement carried by KUNA.

Kuwait's foreign ministry said the expulsion and recall was based on the "failure" of the Lebanese government to "address the unacceptable and reprehensible statements against the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the rest" of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

The GCC is a six-member regional body that includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.

Kuwait's decision was also based on "the failure of the Government of the Lebanese Republic to take the necessary measures to deter the continuous and increasing smuggling operations of the scourge of drugs to Kuwait and the rest of the GCC," the ministry added.

The United Arab Emirates meanwhile has summoned Lebanon's ambassador over Kordahi's comments.