Saudi Arabia reiterates determination to expose Hezbollah terrorism

RIYADH: The Cabinet on Monday renewed the Kingdom’s determination to fight the terrorist activities of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and to continue work with partners around the world to expose its terrorist and criminal activities.

This was reaffirmed during the government’s weekly meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Monday at the Yamamah Palace.

The king briefed the ministers on different issues and offered his condolences to Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, and to the government and the people of Qatar on the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani.

King Salman also highlighted the results of his meetings and talks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Afghan President Abdullah Abdullah, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Leuven and the President of the National Assembly of Chad, Haroun Kabadi, during which the king reviewed prospects for these countries’ cooperation in various fields with the Kingdom.

The Cabinet emphasized the Kingdom’s call on the UN Human Rights Council to hold a special session on the situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo, in light of the dangerous escalation of the situation by the Bashar Assad regime and its allies, in flagrant violation of an international humanitarian law.

It also stressed the UN World Food Program’s comments regarding the Saudi



contribution in support of the displaced Syrians and of the Syrian refugees in Jordan.

The Cabinet hailed the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of the King Abdulaziz International Competition for memorizing, reading and interpretation of the Holy Qur’an, currently being held with the participation of 114 competitors from 76 countries.

The Cabinet praised the outcome of the 20th meeting of the environment ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Jeddah.

The Cabinet hailed the joint statement issued after the first meeting of the Saudi-Jordanian Coordination Council and the fact that work of the council’s preparatory committee will continue and that agreement under process will be taken to completion.

Acting Minister of Culture and Information Essam bin Said, talking to the media after the meeting, said the Cabinet reviewed the outcome of the discussions on petroleum markets and progress toward stability, held by GCC oil and energy ministers at their 35th meeting in Riyadh.

He said the Cabinet hailed the fact that the Kingdom became a member of the board of directors of the International Comparison Program (ICP), for its 2017-2019 session, representing the countries of West Asia.

The minister said the Cabinet welcomed the final communiqué of the 42nd session of the foreign ministers of OIC countries, held in the capital of Uzbekistan, which called on promoting the awareness of the international community about the humanitarian role of Islam.