Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Lebanese President Michel Aoun signed, on Wednesday, a decree appointing Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Zeina Akar as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants.
Aoun’s decree comes after he accepted Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe’s request to relieve him from his position, after a widespread uproar caused by his statements that were considered offensive to the Gulf states.
Gulf countries had summoned a number of Lebanese ambassadors, in addition to a statement issued by the Gulf Cooperation Council in which Wehbe called on “to provide an official apology to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and their people for the completely unacceptable insults he committed.”
The Lebanese Foreign Minister’s statements came in an interview on Al-Hurra TV alongside the Saudi analyst, Salman Al-Ansari, who posted part of the interview in a tweet on his official Twitter page, saying with a comment: “To the honorable Lebanese people; here you have seen with your own eyes and heard clearly the logic of the ‘Minister’ Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry, or more correctly Hezbollah Minister Charbel Wahba… Save your country from this corrupt gang.”
