Lebanese president accepts Kordahi's resignation

MENA

Published: 2021-12-03 18:30

Last Updated: 2024-03-26 14:53


Lebanese president accepts Kordahi's resignation
Lebanese president accepts Kordahi's resignation

Friday evening, the Lebanese President signed a decree accepting the resignation of Information Minister George Kordahi, according to what the Presidency of the Lebanese Republic announced on Twitter.

Kordahi officially submitted his resignation earlier Friday at a press conference held at the Ministry of Information following weeks of controversy. 

Kordahi said at the conference: "A fierce campaign was opened to me in the media and social media, depicting what I said as a crime against Saudi Arabia, and this campaign quickly moved to the Gulf and its media, and these campaigns (...) included a lot of insults to me and my family, which bothered me."

He added, "How can an entire people be blamed for what I said? I refused to resign to say that Lebanon does not deserve this treatment. Today we are facing new developments, as I understood that the French want me to resign before Macron's visit to Saudi Arabia in order to help open a dialogue with Saudi officials on Lebanon." 

He continued, "I decided to give up my ministerial position, because Lebanon is more important than me, and I do not accept to be used as a reason to harm the Lebanese in the Gulf countries, because the interests of my country and my loved ones are above my personal interests."

Kordahi hoped that his resignation would open a "hole in the wall" towards better relations with the Gulf states, saying: "My stay in this government has become absurd because I am required to resign, and therefore it is better to leave room for other endeavors."

He pointed out that "the war in Yemen will not last forever, and there will come a day when the combatants will sit at the table, and I hope that day they will remember that a man from Lebanon demanded an end to the war in Yemen out of love for Yemen, the Gulf and Lebanon."

In response to a question about whether he will run for the upcoming parliamentary elections, Kordahi said that he "does not know."