Manama: Bahrain on Tuesday summoned the Lebanese charge d’affaires in Manama to protest the statements made by Speaker Nabih Berri at a photography exhibition in Beirut.
The foreign ministry said that Berri’s patronage of the event deemed highly offensive by Manama was a blatant and unjustified interference in Bahrain’s domestic affairs and constituted a step backwards in the fraternal relations between the two countries.
“Bahrain condemns the participation by senior Lebanese officials in such events and the irresponsible statements they make,” Hamad Al Amer, the Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary for Regional and GCC Affairs, told Sami Haddad, the Acting Lebanese Chargé d’Affaires.
“Such attitudes are an ominous threat to the sovereignty of a member of the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council and a clear breach of the international law,” he said, quoted by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
Berri was not present at the event held under his patronage, but he delegated a senior official from his organization, Amal, to deliver the speech.
Al Amer said that the tendency by some Lebanese leaders to support negative policies against Bahrain and its people “erodes mutual confidence, creates a tense situation and jeopardizes security and stability in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.”
Al Amer said that Bahrain resented “unfriendly practices” and wanted the Lebanese government to appreciate its responsibilities in dealing firmly with them and with irresponsible attitudes by some senior officials.
Relations between Bahrain and Lebanon reached low levels last year following a series of statements by some leaders, mainly Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah, that Manama decried as interference in its internal affairs.
Bahrain in March suspended flights by Gulf Air and Bahrain Air to Beirut, but resumed them in June.
