Masdar Diplmacy
Saudi Arabia on Friday recalled its ambassador in Lebanon and asked the Lebanese Ambassador to leave Riyadh over the offensive remarks made by the Lebanese Minister of Information George Kurdahi against the Arab coalition supporting legitimacy in Yemen
The Kingdom also ceased all imports from Lebanon, however it reaffirms its keenness on the interests of Lebanese expatriates in the Kingdom. “The minister’s offensive remarks is a continuation of the Lebanese officials’ astonished remarks”
In a statement issued by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kingdom expressed its regret over the deterioration in the Saudi-Lebanese relations due to the ignorance showed by its authorities
“We do not consider statements issued by Lebanese officials expressed the Lebanese community in the Kingdom,” the ministry said in its statement
The statement also said that Lebanon has not taken measures to stop the smuggling of drugs to the Kingdom, and failed to cooperate with Saudi authorities over the extradition of the wanted in violation of the Riyadh Arab agreement for judicial cooperation
The ministry said that the control of the terrorist Hezbollah militia over Lebanon’s decision has made Lebanon a battleground for terrorist designs. “Hezbollah militia provides support and military training to Al Houthi terrorist militias,” the statement added
Three days ago, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Lebanon’s Ambassador to the Kingdom Fawzi Kabbara to protest against the controversial statements made by Information Minister George Kurdahi
The ministry handed Kabbara an official protest note against Kurdahi’s statements. The ministry described the statements as offensive to the efforts of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition in support of the internationally recognised government in Yemen
Marlene Khalifeh
Marlene Khalifeh, a Lebanese journalist. She worked for a period of twelve years in An-Nahar” newspaper before moving to “As-Safir” were she spent ten years as a diplomatic reporter. Between these two periods, Mrs. Khalifeh published many articles in the Al Hayat” and “Al Riyad” newspapers, “Al Wassat” and “Newsweek Middle East” magazines.
She created her own website “Masdar diplomacy”,on the 11th of July 2016 focusing on diplomatic activities in Lebanon and the Middle East.
After attending many training courses in a number of European, American, and English institutions, she specialized in investigative journalism. Her hard work paid off when she was awarded, twice (in 2004 and 2005), with the “investigative journalist” prize by the Commonwealth (in Jordan) among four Arab participating countries. Afterwards, she focused her attention on the politic and diplomatic press training and research on fact checking.
