Saudi Arabia urges nationals to leave Lebanon as soon as possible

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The Saudi embassy in Lebanon on Saturday urged its nationals to leave the country a day after a US warship was deployed off the Lebanese coast. The embassy sent SMS messages to Saudis living in Lebanon urging them to leave the country as soon as possible, Al Jazeera TV reported. "The Lebanese government has been informed of the measure taken by the Saudi Arabian embassy which has asked its citizens to exercise caution in their movements and to leave the country if possible," a Lebanese source told AFP.

http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Saudi%20Arabia/223023

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Not that I keep up with this neck of the woods, but didn't the USA have to evacuate some dual citizens a while back and sent them the bill for the costs of being rescued to the USA? That was when Israel cut loose on Lebanon to retaliate for attacks from Hamas.

What is happening now? Sounds like the sh*t is fixing to hit the fan again.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

What is happening now? Sounds like the sh*t is fixing to hit the fan again.

Syria's meddling in Lebanon has someone pizzed off, I guess.

[Ban Hammer 13,355]

What is happening now? Sounds like the sh*t is fixing to hit the fan again.

Syria's meddling in Lebanon has someone pizzed off, I guess.

don't ya know them evil jews are gonna attack?

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America deployed a warship off the coast of Lebanon yesterday prompting anger from Iran-backed Hizbollah and surprise from the pro-Washington Lebanese prime minister.

Fouad Saniora said that he had not requested the display of naval power.

The USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer that was almost sunk by al-Qa'eda in a terrorist attack off Yemen eight years ago, was steaming in international waters just off the Lebanese coast.

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An unnamed US military source said the deployment was meant as "a show of support for regional stability" because of Washington's concern about the political crisis in Lebanon.

Squabbling between the pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian factions has paralysed Lebanese politics for months, leaving the country unable to pass any basic legislation, including the national budget, or chose a head of state or president.

Members of Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement supported and financed by Teheran, were critical of the move.

"This decision proves it's the United States which is interfering in Lebanese affairs and that this interference has taken on a military slant," Hussein Hajj Hassan, a Hizbollah MP, said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../01/wleb101.xml

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Call for Saudis to evacuate Lebanon came after diplomat's car hit by stray bullet

The Associated Press

Sunday, March 2, 2008

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Saudi Arabia's recent call for its citizens to leave Lebanon was prompted by a stray bullet that struck a Saudi diplomat's car in Beirut, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon said in comments published Sunday.

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Khoja said the incident prompted the Saudi Embassy in Beirut to urge its citizens on Saturday to be vigilant or evacuate the country as soon as possible.

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Although the kingdom has said it is not taking sides in Lebanon's 15-month-long political crisis the worst since the end of the 1975-90 civil war there some pro-Syrian Lebanese politicians have accused the Saudi government of obstructing a solution to the Lebanese deadlock and of seeking to rekindle the conflict by supporting the parliamentary majority.

The latest Saudi decision comes two days after the U.S. deployed warships off the Lebanese coast in what appears to be a show of strength at a time of increasing international frustration at the political deadlock in Lebanon.