Saudi Arabia tells citizens to leave Lebanon immediately
Asma Alsharif, Raissa Kasolowsky
Reuters
8/15/2012
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia–Saudi Arabia has ordered its citizens to leave Lebanon “immediately”, the state news agency reported in an SMS alert on Wednesday.
“The Saudi Arabian embassy in Lebanon calls all Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon immediately,” the alert said, without elaborating.
Also, Saudi hostage among abducted group in Lebanon
A Saudi national is among a group of men kidnapped by a Lebanese clan on Wednesday in retaliation for the abduction of one of their relatives by the rebel Free Syrian Army, a clan member said.
Hatem al-Meqdad, a brother of the man kidnapped by rebels in Damascus, confirmed reports of a kidnapped Saudi to the local television channel Al Jadeed.
Members of the Meqdad clan earlier warned that citizens of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia could be under threat. All three countries have thrown their weight behind the 17-month-old revolt in Syria.
Lebanon chaos looms over Meqdad threat. Kidnappings illustrate return of feudalist state akin to civil war era
…The Meqdad clan’s actions, complete with face-masks and shoulder-carried heavy machine-guns, stood as a brazen illustration of the return of feudalism decades after what most Lebanese hoped was the end of their inconclusive civil war between 1975 and 1990. Importantly, several emotional Meqdad family members blasted on television screens that they held Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia responsible for the kidnapping of Hassan Meqdad, allegedly because of the support Doha, Ankara and Riyadh extended to the FSA.
Maher Meqdad, a spokesperson for the Shi`ah clan, further held the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati responsible for not securing the release of their relative, although he repeated that he would not attack any Saudis or Qataris and that the clan’s problem was with the FSA…
H/T Michael Yon
Update: Report: Several nations providing ‘semi-covert’ assist to Syrian revolution
Update 2: Lebanon close to the edge of chaos as Syrian civil war rages on
Update 3: Syrian Rebels: “Democracy is a Western Deception, We Want Islam”
