Lebanese Interior Minister al-Mawlawi denounces the Bahraini opposition Conference in Beirut

BEIRUT – The Bahraini opposition movement Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society held a conference in Ghobeiry, Beirut, on the 11th anniversary of what they called “Bahraini Revolution.” The Shia political party’s 18 members of parliament resigned to protest regime violence in the 2011 Bahraini uprisings.

However, the organisation has since been operating clandestinely as a high court in Bahrain has ordered them to be dissolved and liquidated. The conference was sponsored and attended by Iranian Hezbollah members in Lebanon.  

Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi, who had prevented holding the previous two meetings of the Bahraini opposition earlier this month, directed severe criticism towards the conference organizers. Mawlawi asked “how can provocative seminars and conferences contribute to Lebanon’s interests?”

Despite Mawlawi’s ambiguous statements, it is clear that he referred to the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, who continues to control the Lebanese government’s political decisions, and obstructs the government’s efforts to build close relations or at least restore confidence and diplomacy with the Gulf states.