Kuwait City, Oct 31 (IANS): Kuwait has decided to recall its ambassador in Lebanon for consultation and asked Beirut's Charge d'Affaires in Kuwait to leave the country within 48 hours, according to state media reports.

The decision was made on Saturday due to Lebanon's "insistence on making negative statements and reluctance to handle unacceptable and condemnable positions against Saudi Arabia and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), not to mention the Lebanese government's failure to take action to halt continued and growing smuggling of narcotics into Kuwait and other GCC countries", Xinhua news agency quoted the kuwait Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement.

The statement is based on "historical ties, deep-rooted bonds and the same destiny between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia", it said.

Saudi Arabia on Friday decided to ban all imports from Lebanon and gave the Ambassador 48 hours to leave the Kingdom, after comments by Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi that called the Yemeni Houthi militia's actions "self-defense" against the Riyadh-led coalition.

At a press conference on October 27, Kordahi dismissed claims accusing him of hostility against Saudi Arabia and said "nobody should dictate to Lebanon what it needs to do in terms of keeping a minister in the government or not".

Lebanon's Hezbollah has refused to bow to Saudi Arabia's demand for Kordahi's resignation.