Mansour Denies Reports of Expulsion of Lebanese Expats from Qatar

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on Wednesday denied media reports circulated by a number of websites about “the expulsion of 25 Lebanese citizens from the State of Qatar to Lebanon.”

The reports claimed that the Lebanese expats would arrive in Beirut on Wednesday evening after Qatari authorities refused to renew their residency permits.

“When this report was published, I contacted Lebanon's ambassador in Qatar and he informed me that these reports are totally baseless and that any of the Lebanese had not contacted the Lebanese embassy to report his expulsion,” Mansour said.

He also denied the presence of any list containing names of Lebanese citizens.

“Our ambassador in Qatar told me that the brotherly Qatari authorities appreciate the situation in Lebanon and that there is no such measure against the Lebanese who are present in Qatar,” the minister added.

However, Radio Voice of Lebanon (100.5) reported on Wednesday evening that Ahmed Ayyoub, a Lebanese young man, arrived at the Beirut airport aboard an MEA flight after being expelled from Qatar, noting that the reasons behind the expulsion are still unknown.

"People close to young man Ayyoub ruled out that political reasons might be behind his expulsion from Qatar," VDL added.

Ayyoub left the airport without giving any statement about his expulsion because he was in a "delicate emotional condition," according to the same source.

On June 11, LBCI television reported that “the foreign ministry received a list containing the names of nine Lebanese who work in Gulf countries and whose residency permits will not be renewed due to their political affiliations.”

“The list does not only contain names of individuals from the Shiite sect, as it also mentions the names of two Sunnis and three Christians,” LBCI added.

For his part, Mansour told LBCI back then that “ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council member states are excellent,” noting that the GCC's decision to take measures against Hizbullah members is “political and will not affect the brotherly relations with these countries.”

The Gulf Cooperation Council has decided to adopt several measures against Hizbullah members in the council's member states as a response to the party's involvement in the Syrian conflict.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had previously justified the group's involvement in Syria by saying they were defending Lebanese-inhabited border villages inside Syria and Shiite holy sites.

But during a May 25 speech marking the 13th anniversary of Israel's military withdrawal from Lebanon, Nasrallah said the Takfiris are the “most prevailing group in the Syrian opposition,” warning against a defeat against them in the ongoing war in Syria.