GCC says Lebanon unsafe for travel; KSA seeks end to fighting

RIYADH: Gulf Arab states have advised citizens not to travel to Lebanon, a popular summer tourist destination that is becoming increasingly engulfed in neighboring Syria’s civil war, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
“Most GCC states have urged their nationals to avoid traveling to Lebanon due to the instability of the security situation there,” Gulf Cooperation Council’s chief Andullatif Al-Zayani was quoted as saying late on Wednesday.
Lebanon is “unsafe” for citizens of the GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Zayani said.
Another SPA report on Thursday said Saudi Arabia urged all parties involved in the Lebanon fighting "to put an end to this fighting and act wisely.”
Riyadh was following “with deep concern the bloody events taking place in Tripoli... that benefit nobody but those who do not mean well for Lebanon and its people,” said Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal was quoted saying in the report.
He voiced the kingdom’s support for “strengthening the authority of the Lebanese state and its control over all its territories.”
Riyadh affirmed its “confidence in the Lebanese government’s keenness to take all measures that would preserve security and stability for the Lebanese people in all their sects and beliefs,” said the minister.
On Wednesday, at least five rockets launched from across Lebanon’s border with Syria hit the eastern city of Baalbek, a security source told AFP.
The attack came hours after the Lebanese Shiite Movement Hezbollah and Syrian troops captured Qusair, only 10 kilometers from the border with the small Mediterranean country, after deadly battles with Syrian rebels.
Lebanon has officially maintained a policy of neutrality in Syria’s conflict, but is sharply divided along sectarian lines that have been emphasized by the conflict in Syria.
While Hezbollah and its allies back Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, the Sunni-led March 14 opposition movement supports the revolt against Assad.
In the northern city of Tripoli, a new wave of Syria-linked clashes between Sunni and Alawite residents has killed eight people since the weekend, bringing to dozens the death toll over recent months.
The violence prompted key GCC member Saudi Arabia on Thursday to urge Lebanon’s people to act “wisely” and end their fighting in Tripoli.