Aoun Rejects Using Lebanon to Harm Saudi Arabia, Gulf States

President Michel Aoun met Wednesday with Industry Minister Imad Hobballah, who was accompanied by a delegation from the Industrialists Association (NNA)
President Michel Aoun met Wednesday with Industry Minister Imad Hobballah, who was accompanied by a delegation from the Industrialists Association (NNA)
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Aoun Rejects Using Lebanon to Harm Saudi Arabia, Gulf States

President Michel Aoun met Wednesday with Industry Minister Imad Hobballah, who was accompanied by a delegation from the Industrialists Association (NNA)
President Michel Aoun met Wednesday with Industry Minister Imad Hobballah, who was accompanied by a delegation from the Industrialists Association (NNA)

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has said he rejected turning Lebanon into a "transit point" to harm Arab countries, mainly Saudi Arabia and Gulf states.

“These countries have always stood by Lebanon’s side,” the President said during a meeting with Industry Minister Imad Hobballah, who was accompanied by a delegation from the Board of Directors of the Industrialists Association.

Riyadh on Friday announced the suspension of the fresh produce shipments from Lebanon, saying they were being used to hide drugs.

The Saudi news agency reported that customs officials in the Red Sea port of Jeddah seized 5.3 million banned captagon pills hidden in a consignment of pomegranates from Lebanon.

“Saudi Arabia is a brotherly country and we are interested in preserving the existing economic cooperation with it. Today, we are exerting great efforts to uncover the circumstances of what happened and put things back on the right track,” the President stressed.

Aoun explained that Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi has been assigned to follow-up the issue with the competent Saudi authorities.

“We hope to reach solutions,” he said.

The President indicated that measures approved at a meeting held at Baabda Palace on Monday will be implemented, and security apparatuses will tighten control over export from Lebanon to reassure countries that receive Lebanese agricultural and industrial products.



Syria and Neighbors Urge Israel to Stop Bombings

Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
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Syria and Neighbors Urge Israel to Stop Bombings

Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Merkava tanks in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 08 May 2025. (EPA)

The foreign ministers of Syria, Türkiye and Jordan, meeting Monday in Ankara, called on Israel to cease attacks on Syria and to withdraw troops from the country.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria since longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December, often targeting military sites and killing dozens of people.

Israeli officials have also described Syria's new authorities as extremists and claimed to defend the country's Druze minority with a recent spate of attacks.

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a press conference with his Jordanian and Syrian counterparts that "Israel's expansionism poses a significant threat to the security, stability and future of Syria."

"This must come to an end. And we are on the same page about this. Syria needs to be supported to prevent terrorist organizations from settling in this region," Fidan added, noting that Syria shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Türkiye.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told the joint press conference that "our borders are constantly violated by Israeli attacks".

The Israeli strikes are "calculated escalations aimed at destabilizing Syria and dragging the region into a new cycle of conflict", Shaibani said, decrying "systematic violations of international law and explicit provocations".

He called on the international community to put Israel under "increased pressure" to halt the bombings.

Jordan's top diplomat, Ayman Safadi, said attacks on Syrian soil "will not bring security to Israel and will bring nothing to Syria except ruin and destruction".