The envoy was speaking at a celebration held in Bkirki, the headquarters of the Maronite Patriarchate, on the occasion of the publication of the book “The Maronite Patriarchate’s Relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” by Father Antoine Daou. His remarks came as the US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea and her French counterpart Anne Grillo were visiting Saudi Arabia for meetings with Saudi officials. Their visit comes in the wake of the June 29 tripartite meeting on Lebanon between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan. During a meeting with diplomats on Tuesday, Grillo responded to Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who accused the international community of besieging Lebanon. “The Lebanese crisis is the result of mismanagement that lasted for decades and not the result of an external siege,” Grillo said.

Source: Ethiopian News July 08, 2021 20:26 UTC