Note on the current crisis:

Lebanese diaspora in the Gulf are highly educated engineers, doctors, and specialists. They are there working and earning every dollar with their hard work.

Using them as hostages for politics only shows how KSA treats others. KSA accepting them should not be a choke for us.

UAE, Qatar, and KSA already expelled hundreds of Lebanese Shia families after 2006. They had no reason & the families were given none.

A high-ranking Emirati source told Lebanon News: The UAE will summon its Chargé d'Affairs because it does not have a special ambassador in Lebanon, and will request the departure of the Lebanese ambassador in the coming hours.

⋯ Information for LBCI: The Gulf Cooperation Council meeting will be held in the coming hours to discuss expelling all Lebanese ambassadors in the gulf.

⋯ A source close to the Gulf Cooperation Council: The sanctions will not be limited to politicians, but will also include businessmen close to the authority in Lebanon and abroad, in addition to Lebanese official departments, institutions and entities.

🚨 The Gulf countries are now unsatisfied with their demand of resignation for Information Minister George Kordahi and are demanding the whole Lebanese government to resign in apology.

Kordahi only said (five weeks before he became a minister): “The Yemen war is absurd”. The interview was done on August ⁠5 by Al-Jazeera.

⋯ Prime Minister Mikati is trying to make a series of calls with Gulf countries to remedy the situation and heal the rift, but was not successful.

He was told that his step came late, and from the first moment he formed the government he knew that it was not independent (pro-gulf)

Al Arabiya: Bahrain asks the Lebanese ambassador to leave the country within 48 hours.

⋯ A number of young men gathered in Tariq Al-Jadida to protest against the departure of the Saudi ambassador and calls to topple the Mikati government.

⋯ Mikati called Information minister George Kordahi and asked him "to do the right thing to fix the situation with the brotherly Arab states."

⋯ MTV Information: Government officials made contacts with officials in a number of Arab countries, asking them for some time to make George Kordahi resign, or else the entire government would.

⋯ Saad Hariri: The sovereignty of Lebanon will not be upright by aggression against the sovereignty of Arab countries and exposing their interests to dangers imported from Iran.

Note: Political attack is now shifting to blaming Hezbullah for the crisis.

⋯ Traditional Lebanese newspapers and TV channel joined the call to force minister Kordahi to resign after he condemned the war on Yemen.

Note: The interview was on 5 August 2021. So 5 weeks before becoming minister

The twenty-third batch of fuel, of about 60 tankers of Iranian diesel, crossed from Syria to Lebanon, bringing the total to about 66 million liters.

A meeting took place between the Maronite Patriarch Al-Rahi and Suleiman Franjieh to discuss the latest developments and try to convince him to make George Kordahi resign.

George Kordahi represents the party “Marada” in the government.

🚨 Initial reports of an Israeli aggression on Syria. Details to follow below

Suleiman Franjieh:

- If the government resigns, we will not be able to form a government before the end of the legislative session [parliamentary elections are due on 27 ⁠March 2022].

- We do not accept to be treated in inferiority by any party.

- George Kordahi gave his opinion before he was a minister and before he knew of his ministerial appointment. We live in a free country.

Syria: The explosions were heard near Al-Mezzah air base, Al-Dimas and Qudsaya (in Damascus countryside). Several Syrian soldiers have been injured and killed, according to "Within Syria".

Yemen: Head of the political body in Ansarullah:

If Saudi Arabia bans the products of Lebanon for the position taken by Minister of Information George Kordahi, then the Yemeni government is to call for an emergency meeting and take a decision banning Saudi products. twitter.com/Moh_Alhouthi/…

Reports: The attack targeted Syrian personnel and equipment.

Zionists aggression on Syria at day and on Saturday are extremely rare.