Kuwait called on its citizens to leave Lebanon and told those wishing to travel there to wait, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
According to Reuters, the ministry said its embassy in Beirut "calls upon Kuwaiti citizens present there to exercise caution and to stay away from sites of gatherings and security disturbances in some areas and to stay in their residences."
The statement came after at least six people were killed and 32 others wounded in armed clashes in Beirut involving snipers, pistols, Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades.
The clashes erupted during a protest near the Palace of Justice in Beirut to demand the removal of Tarek Bitar, the judge heading the probe into last year's deadly Beirut port blast.
In the past few days, Hezbollah launched a smear campaign against Bitar, who demanded to question former ministers and security officials about suspected negligence in the port case.
On Thursday, the Tayouneh roundabout, situated near the Justice Palace where the Judge’s office is located, turned into a war zone, witnessing heavy gunfire and the shelling of projectiles while snipers shot from buildings.
The exchange of fire came despite the deployment of Lebanese Army patrols.
Tayouneh is considered a former front line from the civil war of 1975-1990 between Christian and Muslim areas.
The Lebanese Army failed on Thursday to identify the side that first started the shooting.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said the “fighting started with sniper fire, with the first casualty shot in the head."
