Kuwait issues travel warning to Lebanon

Kuwait advised its citizens on Monday to avoid travel to Lebanon and its nationals currently present in the country to leave due to the unstable security situation. “The Kuwaiti authorities call on its citizens not to travel to Lebanon amid the tense security developments in the country,” the official KUNA news agency said. An official at the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry called on the nationals currently in Lebanon to leave the country to ensure their security and safety. “In case they have faced any obstacles, they should contact the Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut immediately,” the official said. On Saturday, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain issued similar travel warnings. Clashes erupted last week in the northern city of Tripoli between the two rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen after the General Security Department detained Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi on charges of belonging to a terrorist group. On Sunday the clashes spilled to Akkar after Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed was shot dead along with his companion Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Merheb at an army checkpoint in the northern town of al-Kweikhat. The tension soon spread to Beirut where several areas in Beirut were blocked by burning tires and clashes erupted near the Beirut Arab University in Tariq al-Jedideh between supporters of al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Arab Movement party.