UAE Expelled Lebanese Row in “Safe Hands”
Speaker Nabhi Berri reassured Tuesday from the UAE that "the row of the expelled Lebanese from UAE is in safe hands".
Berri noted that his visit to the UAE and his meeting with its president was an occasion to express Lebanon”s gratitude and appreciation towards UAE.
Berri also expressed his deep gratitude towards "the major initiatives presented by the UAE". He stressed that the meeting was more than successful because UAE and its president are always keen that UAE remains a home for the Lebanese exactly as Lebanon is another home for the Emiratis.
Previously, the Emirati President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan told Speaker Nabih Berri that his country had the right to act against foreigners "violating the law," in reference to expelled Lebanese Shiites, the state WAM news agency said on Tuesday.
In a meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri, Sheikh Khalifa reiterated the commitment of the United Arab Emirates to supporting Lebanon, WAM reported.
"This is the UAE”s permanent policy," Sheikh Khalifa said.
"The UAE was exercising its sovereign right in taking decisions it saw as necessary and, in so doing, the country does not target any nationality, religious sect or faction," he told Berri, himself a Shiite.
"Whatever measures the country took was limited to only those violating the laws of the state," Sheikh Khalifa said, quoted by WAM.
Dozens of Lebanese who have lived in the UAE for several years have been expelled on suspicion of having links with Lebanon”s Shiite group Hizbullah, their representative Hassan Alayan charged last month.
According to Alayan, the expulsions began after Lebanon”s June 7 parliamentary election in which a Western-backed camp defeated a Hizbullah-led coalition supported by Iran and Syria.
Emirati authorities had previously not commented on the expulsions from the mainly Sunni Muslim oil-rich state that is home to about 100,000 Lebanese.