Threat prompts evacuation of Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut (1st Lead)

Feb 21, 2008, 12:08 GMT

Beirut - Staff at the Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut were evacuated Thursday from the complex after an anonymous threat was made, a Lebanese security official said.

'The embassy received a threat call ... this prompted the evacuation of all employees to search the area,' the source said without elaborating.

The heavily guarded embassy is on the outskirts of Beirut's southern suburbs, a hotbed of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement.

The threat came just days after four Kuwaiti lawyers filed a suit against Shiite MPs on Wednesday for holding a rally in memory of the slain Hezbollah commander, Imad Muganiyeh, who was accused of hijacking a Kuwaiti plane.

The lawsuit was against MPs Adnan Abdel-Samad, who addressed the rally, Ahmad Lari, former minister Abdel-Hadi al-Saleh, former MP Abdel-Mohsen Jamal and municipal council member Fadhel Safar.

Lebanon's Hezbollah does not have a known offshoot in Kuwait, but some people there believe such a group operates underground and refer to it as 'Hezbollah Kuwait.'

MPs in Kuwait cannot be arrested or interrogated unless parliament lifts their immunity which can be done at the request of the public prosecution.

The rally last Saturday to mourn Imad Muganiyeh, who was killed n a car bomb blast in Damascus last week, was attended by hundreds of Shiites closely monitored by security guards.

Kuwait accused Muganiyeh of hijacking the Kuwaiti plane in 1988 - the first time that the emirate has officially named him as the perpetrator of the 16-day hijacking.

The aircraft was the second to be hijacked by Shiite militants demanding the release of 17 Shiites imprisoned in Kuwait for bombing the US and French embassies and Kuwaiti targets in December 1983.

They escaped from prison when Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

Meanwhile, local Lebanese radios said the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry warned its citizens against travelling to Lebanon due to the 'tense situation' in the country.

Last week, Saudi Arabia issued a similar warning to its nationals.