A delegation from the Arab League will head to Beirut on Monday, amid the continuing crisis between the Gulf states and Lebanon resulting from statements about the ongoing war in Yemen made by Information Minister George Kordahi before he took office.
While the Supreme Islamic Council in Lebanon supported the position of the prime minister and his demand for the resignation of George Qardahi, Hezbollah confirmed its rejection of the man's departure.
An official source told Reuters today, Saturday, that a delegation from the Arab League will visit Beirut on Monday to discuss Lebanon's crisis with a number of Gulf countries.
The source stated that the delegation would be headed by Hossam Zaki, Deputy Secretary-General of the Arab League.
The crisis erupted after Qardahi broadcast a statement criticizing the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.
Qardahi said - in an interview broadcast on October 25 last - that the Houthis in Yemen are defending themselves in the face of what he sees as "external aggression from Saudi Arabia and the UAE."
The interview was recorded weeks before Kordahi was appointed Minister of Information in Lebanon.
In response to these statements, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait asked their ambassadors from Lebanon to leave their countries, and summoned their ambassadors from Beirut.
Today, Saturday, the Supreme Islamic Sharia Council in Lebanon denounced what it called "an attempt to strip Lebanon of its Arab identity instead of appreciating its Arab brothers."
The Council affirmed - in a statement - its support for Prime Minister Najib Mikati in his "firm position by laying out a road map to get out of the impasse in Lebanon's relations with its Arab brothers."
judgment of conscience
Earlier, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati reiterated his call on Information Minister George Kordahi to "arbit his conscience" and give priority to the national interest, against the background of the crisis raised by the minister's statements with the Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, but Qardahi insisted on refusing to resign, while Hezbollah blamed Riyadh Responsibility for the crisis, refusing external dictates on the government, as he put it.
In a televised speech on Thursday, Mikati said that the personal positions of the Minister of Information had brought Lebanon into the "prohibition of boycott" by the Gulf countries, and he continued, "Whoever thinks that he can take Lebanon away from its Arab depth is mistaken."
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Beirut quoted government sources as saying that Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati will not call for a government session before Information Minister George Kordahi submits his resignation, amid the continuing repercussions of the crisis, and ambiguity in its outcome.
The sources indicated that Mikati is seeking to obtain the consensus of the political forces on the conditions he set for reactivating the government's work, especially with regard to the resignation of Minister Qardahi and the failure to raise the issue of removing the judicial investigator in the port case on the cabinet table.
made no mistake
On the other hand, sources close to the ministers affiliated with the Amal Movement and Hezbollah confirmed their refusal to dismiss Qardahi or push him to resign over his statements about the Yemen war.
The ministers also affirmed - according to the same sources - their adherence to disqualifying the investigative judge in the port case, Tariq Al-Bitar, from this file as a result of what they describe as legitimate suspicion, according to Lebanese law.
Hezbollah representative in the Lebanese parliament, Hussein Hajj Hassan, said that George Qardahi was not mistaken in his statements regarding the war in Yemen, but rather expressed his opinion.
In the same context, sources told the Lebanese newspaper, Al-Gomhouria, in its issue today, Saturday, that "the statements of the Minister of Information (George Kordahi) are not the reason for the measures taken by Saudi Arabia towards Lebanon."
These sources added that the Saudis themselves confirmed that it is linked to "Hezbollah", and from here "we refuse to turn the Minister of Information into a scapegoat or sacrifice him."
She explained that "neither Hezbollah nor the Marada movement is willing to put any pressure on Minister Qardahi to force him to resign."