ISTANBUL

Bahrain has resumed its full diplomatic relations with Lebanon, after a year-and-a-half break.

A Foreign Ministry statement said the decision would “strengthen the brotherly relations between the two countries and their peoples and promote mutual respect.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, for his part, welcomed the Bahraini decision to resume diplomatic ties with Lebanon.

“We value and welcome this decision as part of brotherly relations between the two countries,” Mikati said in a statement.

He thanked the Gulf countries “for providing job opportunities for the Lebanese on their soil, and within their institutions.”

Bahrain and other Gulf countries followed the Saudi step in withdrawing their ambassadors from Lebanon in October 2021.

The move came in protest of statements by then-information minister, George Kordahi, in which he criticized the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi