Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed Bukhari held talks on Thursday with head of the country’s Higher Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Al-Khatib.
Khatib praised the role Saudi Arabia is playing in Lebanon and its “wisdom in bridging divides between the Lebanese parties to achieve stability in the country.”
The officials held talks on the developments in Lebanon and the region. They agreed on the need to exert the greatest efforts to achieve stability, underlining the role of the state to that end.
Khatib stressed that the people need to regain trust in the state, “which should address their daily, social and security concerns above all else.”
He also underlined the need for the government to address the concerns of the displaced people. “Shiites in Lebanon have never been a factor in creating division, rather they have worked towards achieving unity,” he added.
Moreover, he hailed Saudi Arabia’s role in achieving stability in Lebanon, noting that it had done so previously such as through the Taif Accord.
For his part, Bukhari said Saudi Arabia is not “at odds with Shiites in Lebanon or elsewhere.”
He added that he trusts the Lebanese leadership in guiding the country towards stability. “We always count on the leadership to do so,” he remarked.
“No Lebanese component should be excluded, this is at the core of the Taif Accord,” he went on to say.
