Last update - 00:00 26/08/2007
Lebanese source: Saudi ambassador left Lebanon amid threats
By DPA
Beirut - The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Abdel Aziz Khoja has left the country after receiving threats, a Lebanese security source said Saturday.
According to the source Khoja left Lebanon on August 17 after the embassy formally notified the Lebanese foreign ministry of a "threat of attack against the ambassador's residence, the embassy or other Saudi interests in Lebanon."
The Saudi embassy in Beirut declined to comment, but Khoja told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat daily that "there were threats against the Saudi embassy and against my person."
In May the Lebanese authorities arrested a Saudi man believed to have links with Al-Qaida in a hotel in Christian east Beirut. The man had pictures of the Saudi ambassador's residence on his laptop, according to the source.
Saudi Arabia has been a source of financial and political backing for the
Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.
Lebanon has been hit by a wave of assassination in recent years targeting anti-Syrian politicians, including the 2005 murder of five-time prime minister Rafik Hariri, who also held Saudi citizenship.