Lebanese speaker in UAE amid Shiite expulsion row

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The official WAM news agency reported that Berri met officials in Abu Dhabi, but it did not specify the subject of the talks.

In Beirut, parliament spokesman Ali Hamdan told AFP on Thursday that Berri would discuss the deportation of hundreds of Lebanese Shiites in recent months.

The Lebanese, who have lived in the UAE for years, were expelled on suspicion of having links with the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, their representative Hassan Alayan charged last month.

The UAE authorities have not commented on the allegations.

According to Alayan, the expulsions began after Lebanon’s June 7 parliamentary elections which were won by the Western-backed Saad Hariri camp at the expense of a Hezbollah-led coalition supported by Iran and Syria.

Some 100,000 Lebanese currently live in the mainly Sunni Muslim UAE.

 

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