Saturday, Jul 22, 2017

Manama: Kuwait has lodged a protest with the Lebanese government, urging it to assume its responsibilities towards “irresponsible practices by Hezbollah, a component of the government.”

Kuwait’s Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul Aal Al Qenaei announced the protest as he made comments on reports cited by social media regarding a missive from the Kuwaiti foreign ministry to Lebanon following the verdict by the Court of Cassation, the highest court in Kuwait, in the case of Al Abdali terror cell.

The ruling pronounced in June following a long trial affirmed the involvement of Hezbollah in intelligence, coordination of meetings, payment of funds, and provision of weapons and training on Lebanese territory with the aim of destroying the basic infrastructure of the State of Kuwait, the statement, carried by Kuwait News Agency (Kuna), said.

The ambassador said Kuwait called on the Lebanese government to take measures in order to deter such heinous practices by Hezbollah.

He stressed Kuwait’s keenness on maintaining and promoting “distinguished fraternal relations with Lebanon.”

In September 2015, Kuwait’s public prosecution indicted a number of individuals for acts that threatened national security and unity. The defendants were accused of providing intelligence to Iran and Hezbollah as well as storing weapons, ammunition and communication devices.

The terror cell was busted by the interior ministry on August 13, 2015 and Kuwait’s interior ministry said it had seized a large cache of arms, ammunitions and explosives hidden underground at a farm in Abdali.

The cache contained 24 hand grenades, 65 guns, 56 RPGs and 144kg of bomb-making material.

The trial was opened in September 2015 and went through all stages of legal proceedings and concluded in June 2017 with the verdicts that could not be challenged.

Last week, a Kuwaiti daily said that 14 of the convicts fled the country when they heard the ruling by the Court of Cassation.

The Interior Ministry confirmed that 16 convicts were missing and urged Kuwaitis and residents to assist in locating them.

Kuwait on Friday asked the Iranian government to cut its embassy staff and gave the persona non grata diplomats 45 days to leave. Kuwait also shut down the Iranian cultural mission and other offices and announced that all joint commissions between the two countries were suspended.

By Habib Toumi Bureau Chief

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