The Gulf nation has ended a year-and-a-half standoff to strengthen “brotherly relations” with Lebanon.
Bahrain says it will restore full diplomatic ties with Lebanon after a row over the Saudi Arabian-led military intervention in Yemen saw the countries cut ties for a year and a half.
Manama said on Saturday it ended the standoff, a move welcomed by Beirut.
Bahrain and other Gulf states followed Saudi Arabia by recalling their diplomats from Lebanon in October 2021 after then-Information Minister George Kordahi criticized Saudi Arabia’s role in the war in Yemen, which led to what the United States Nations describe as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Kordahi said in an interview he gave a month before his appointment, but which later surfaced online, that the Iran-aligned Houthis were “defending themselves… against an external aggression” in Yemen. He also said the long-running conflict was “pointless” and called for an end to it.
In response, Riyadh recalled its ambassador and ordered Lebanon’s envoy to leave the kingdom. The Gulf allies – the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain – followed suit and expelled the envoys from Lebanon.
Bahrain to ‘re-establish diplomatic representation’ with Lebanon
“The Kingdom of Bahrain has decided to restore diplomatic representation” at the ambassadorial level in Lebanon, the Bahraini Foreign Ministry said, adding that this would “strengthen fraternal relations between the two countries”.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the country “appreciates and welcomes this decision”.
Saudi Arabia sent its envoy back to Lebanon in April last year.
The re-establishment of ties comes amid a number of other attempts to resolve regional disputes, including bringing Syria back into the Arab League. After more than a decade of isolation, Bashar al-Assad, the president of war-torn Syria, attended the regional bloc’s 32nd summit in Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah on Friday.
There has also been a recent rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia brokered by China.
On May 25, Qatar and Bahrain resumed flights as part of a normalization of diplomatic relations between them.
In 2017, Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, severed ties and imposed a blockade on Qatar over claims it was too close to Iran and supported hardline groups, allegations Doha has always strongly denied.