Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are heading toward “making a collective decision to expel all Lebanese Shiites who are connected to Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” Kuwaiti newspaper As-Seyyasah reported on Thursday.
“ These states received proven reports from Bahraini, French, and US intelligence that Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard members are, along with local religious figures, leading the protests in Bahrain and eastern Saudi Arabia,” the daily quoted an anonymous Arab diplomat as saying.
The decision will be made before the end of April, the source said.
The paper also quoted an anonymous high-ranking source in Manama as saying, “No Lebanese Shiites with connections – or suspected of connections – to Hezbollah or the Revolutionary Guard will remain in the Gulf. They must understand this from now on.”
Iran is using Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guard members to foment unrest in the island with the goal of eventually occupying it, the source added.
During a televised speech via video link on Saturday evening Hezbollah ’s Hassan Nasarllah called the events in Bahrain a “special injustice”. Nasrallah asked whether Arab silence about the repression of protests there is due to sectarian prejudice against the Shiite-majority opposition.
“I ask some in the Arab and Islamic worlds: Why have you remained mum over the tyranny against our people in Bahrain, is it only because they are Shiites?”
He also said Hezbollah is ready to help the protesters.
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri warned on Monday against using Lebanon’s domestic conflict to inflame conflicts in Arab countries.
Many Lebanese in Bahrain are now reportedly facing problems with their residence visas according to reports coming from Manama.
Bahrain NATIONAL carrier Gulf Air suspended all flights between Bahrain and Lebanon effective Tuesday March 22, in response to the speech of the Hezbollah leader .
The action by the Bahrain national carrier came after Bahrain issued a travel advisory banning all its citizens from traveling to Lebanon and also urged its citizens that are living in Lebanon to leave immediately for security reasons.
A Bahrain official was reported as saying:
” Bahrain’s decision to suspend flights to Iran, Iraq and Lebanon and its condemnation of remarks by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had “paved the way for the deportation of thousands of Lebanese Shiites from the Gulf.” Now Lebanon
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