The National Assembly Party (NAAS), an opposition party in Saudi Arabia, claims that one of its founding members, Manea Al-Yami, was slain under ‘complicated circumstances’ in Beirut on Saturday evening.
The Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) issued a statement alleging that Al-Yami’s two brothers stabbed him to death in Dahiyeh, one of Beirut’s southern districts. The brothers are now in police custody, and have admitted to the murder of Al-Yami due to “family reasons.”
The NAAS released a statement in response to Al-Yami’s assassination, assuring their commitment to better understanding the details and motivations of this violent attack.
“The party also holds the Saudi authorities responsible for exposing the people of this country to danger, forcing them to live in exile, and reside in unsafe environments because of their political beliefs or their demands for human rights,” the statement claimed, alluding to the fact that all members of the National Assembly Party live in exile, some of whom found refuge in Lebanon.
The party was established in the Fall of 2020 as the first organized political resistance to the current Saudi regime and operates from London. The NAAS remains highly critical of King Mohammed bin Salman’s leadership and the Al-Saud royal family at large.
The relationship between the Arab Gulf states and Lebanon has been deteriorating, as Arab Gulf governments fear the growing influence of Hezbollah in the country. And in recent years, Dahiyeh has increasingly become a site of this geopolitical and sectarian strife.
The Saudi Press Agency has yet to report Al-Yami’s death.
