In 2017, LebanesePrime MinisterSaad Hariri abruptly announced his resignation while he was in Saudi Arabia on 4 November 2017. Shortly thereafter, the foreign relations between both countries and allied regional neighbors became increasingly strained. On 6 November, Saudi Arabia claimed Lebanon declared war between the two states, despite leaders of Lebanon stating otherwise. On 9 November, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, asked their citizens to leave. The conflict is thought to be part of the larger Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict.
Lebanon's president and some Lebanese officials believe that Hariri's abrupt resignation was made under coercion by Saudis and have claimed that the Saudis had kept him hostage. Iran, Hezbollah and some analysts also believe that this was to create a pretext for war against Hezbollah. On 21 November, Hariri resigned in Beirut but he immediately suspended it, then he rescinded the resignation completely on 5 December. (Full article...)
Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia (Arabic: العَمالَة الأَجْنَبِيَّة فِي السَعُودِيَّة, romanized: al-ʿamālah al-ʾāǧnabīyah fī as-Saʿūdīyah), estimated to number about 9 million as of April 2013, began migrating to the country soon after crude oil was discovered in the late 1930s. Initially, the main influx was composed of Arab and Western technical, professional and administrative personnel, but subsequently substantial numbers came from South and Southeast Asia.
Saudi Arabia has become increasingly dependent on foreign labour, and although foreign workers remain present in technical positions, most are now employed in the agriculture, cleaning and domestic service industries. The hierarchy of foreign workers is often dependent on their country of origin; workers from Arab nations and western nations generally hold the highest positions not held by Saudis, and the lower positions are occupied by persons from Africa, and Southeast Asia. The Saudi government has faced criticism from legal bodies and employers over the treatment of foreign workers. Saudi Arabia deported thousands of Tigrayan migrants to Ethiopia after holding them unlawfully for six months to six years in formal and informal detention facilities across the kingdom. The Tigrayan migrants were brutally tortured while being unjustly held in Saudi prisons. (Full article...)
Image 1A view of Jabal Sawda, a peak located in Saudi Arabia, with an elevation of around 3,000 metres (9,843 ft).[1]
Image 2Nasseef House is a historical structure in Al-Balad, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As of 2009 it is a museum and cultural center which has special exhibits and lectures given by historians.
Image 3Sunset view from Farasan Island, the largest island of the Farasan Islands, in the Red Sea. It is located some 50 km offshore from Jizan, the far southwestern part of Saudi Arabia.
Image 24Dammam No. 7, the oil well where commercial volumes of oil were first discovered in Saudi Arabia on 4 March 1938. (from History of Saudi Arabia)