Live Update arrow right icon From the Liveblog of Thursday, May 1, 2025

UAE to lift ban on its citizens traveling to Lebanon

By AFP 1 May 2025, 12:54 pm Edit
Passengers check their flight times at the Beirut International Airport in Beirut on August 25, 2024. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
Passengers check their flight times at the Beirut International Airport in Beirut on August 25, 2024. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

The United Arab Emirates will lift a ban on its citizens traveling to Lebanon that was imposed during a diplomatic row in 2021, according to a joint statement.

The decision is announced a day after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with his UAE counterpart Mohamed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi.

“The two sides agreed to allow citizens to travel after taking necessary measures to facilitate movement between the two countries and putting in place appropriate mechanisms,” the statement says.

In 2021, the UAE imposed a travel ban on its citizens and withdrew diplomats from Beirut in solidarity with Saudi Arabia after a Lebanese minister criticized the Riyadh-led military intervention in Yemen.

Lebanese citizens were not banned from traveling to the UAE, although some experienced difficulties obtaining visas.

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