The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expresses its strong disapproval of the ‘disgraceful and racist statements made’ by Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe which offered Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, according to a statement released by WAM.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe threatened to stoke new tensions in a television interview on Monday, when he appeared to blame the Gulf for the rise of ISIS in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation summoned the Lebanese ambassador to the state and handed him an official protest note denouncing these statements, stressing that they are inconsistent with diplomatic norms and are inconsistent with the historical relations between Lebanon and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’, SPA reported.
The Kingdom’s foreign ministry reaffirmed that these statements are inconsistent with diplomatic norms and are inconsistent with the historical relations between Saudi Arabian and Lebanon.
‘Given the repercussions that these disgraceful statements may have on the relations between the two brotherly countries, the Ministry summoned the Ambassador of the Lebanese Republic to the Kingdom to express the Kingdom’s rejection and denunciation of the abuses issued by the Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he was handed an official memorandum of protest in this regard’, the statement on SPA concluded.
Lebanon’s president said on Tuesday the foreign minister’s critical comments about Gulf states did not reflect official policy, seeking to avoid a further strain on ties with countries that have been Lebanon’s allies and donors.
ARABIA 5AM NEWS 
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