MTV: 500 Lebanese will be expelled from Bahrain

Lebanese community source told MTV that 500 Lebanese expatriates will be expelled from Bahrain next week.

This new development comes after 16 Lebanese were recently expelled by Bahrain.

Addressing the relations between Lebanon and Bahrain , Caretaker PM Saad Hariri said last Wednesday:

“We’re working together with our brothers in the Gulf, especially with our Bahraini brothers, to end the repercussions of the irresponsible and unjustified political alignment which has nothing to do with Lebanese patriotism or Arab nationalism. It’s rather part of the Iranian plot which I have described as an attempt to dominate Lebanon and the Arab region.”

He was reportedly referring to the travel ban imposed by Bahrain against travel to Lebanon when Hezbollah openly sided with the protesters against the government . Bahrain branded Hezbollah a “terrorist organization”.

Bahrain interior minister Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah al-Khalifa linked Hezbollah to the protests during his address to the parliament on March 29

He accused the predominantly Shiite protesters of being linked to” the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, “as proven by the demonstrators’ methods as well as statements of support from the Lebanese Shiite group and Tehran.”

“All this reveals a link and the training style of Hezbollah,” the interior minister said.

Kuwaiti newspaper As-Seyyasah reported last month that the 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.”

“ 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.

March 14 MP Ammar Houri said on Monday that the Lebanese expatriates in Bahrain paid the price of Hezbollah’s interference in the internal affairs of the country .

“What were the consequences? Did this not result in the deportation of Lebanese from Arab states?” he asked during an interview with New TV.