BEIRUT, Feb 10, 2022 (AFP) – Lebanon on Thursday banned Bahraini opposition forces from holding two events in the country, amid strained ties between Beirut and Arab nations of the Gulf.

The decision comes weeks after Lebanon ordered the expulsion of members of Bahrain’s leading opposition party, Al-Wefaq, after they held a news conference in Beirut that had irked authorities in the Gulf kingdom, where it is banned.

On Thursday, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said he was banning “two events” organised by Bahraini opposition figures which were due to take place on Friday and next Monday.

“If these two events were to take place, they would undermine official Bahraini authorities and Gulf Arab states, thus blocking efforts by Lebanon to boost ties with these countries,” Mawlawi said in a statement.

In October last year, Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Bahrain, suspended diplomatic ties with Lebanon after the airing of comments by then information minister George Kordahi criticising Riyadh’s military intervention in Yemen.

Kordahi resigned in December in a bid to ease the stand-off, as part of diplomatic efforts to restore trust between Beirut, which is grappling with an unprecedented financial crisis, with the wealthy Gulf states.

According to Mawlawi, the events had been scheduled to take place in a hotel near Beirut airport, in the capital’s southern suburbs — a stronghold of the Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Since Bahrain’s 2011 uprising, which ended in a bloody crackdown with the help of Saudi forces, opposition parties have been banned, with dozens of political opponents jailed, triggering international criticism.

In July 2016, Bahrain’s judiciary dissolved Al-Wefaq over allegations including “harbouring terrorism”.

Al-Wefaq has close links with Hezbollah.

Mawlawi did not say who was organising the planned events in Beirut.

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