Official says Yemen won't issue visas to Lebanese citizens

Beirut (dpa) - The Yemeni ambassador to Lebanon said his country will not issue visas to Lebanese citizens in protest at the alleged involvement of the Hezbollah movement in his country‘s crisis, London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Friday."There are strict instructions by the Yemeni Foreign Ministry not to issue visas for any Lebanese wishing to travel to Yemen," ambassador Ali Doulaimi told the Saudi paper.The move came a few days after the Yemeni government accused the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement of aiding the Houthi rebels in their warfare in Yemen.The government claimed that Hezbollah has been providing on-the-ground support to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels fighting for control of the Arabian Peninsula country.Yemen has been gripped by conflict since the rebels overran the capital Sana‘a in September 2014 and began advancing across the country. The Houthis, who hail from Yemen‘s far north, still control large parts of the impoverished country.Saudi Arabia and other Sunni countries began the intervention in Yemen in late March after the Houthis and allied military units advanced on Yemen, forcing internationally-recognized President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi to temporarily flee to Riyadh.