Israel's Foreign Minister Inaugurates Embassy In Bahrain

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif al-Zayani inaugurated Israel’s embassy in Manama late on Thursday, in a historic step for the two countries, Weedah Hamzah and Ciny Riechau reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Photo Insert: During his visit to Bahrain, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid likewise spoke to King Hamed Ben Issa Al Khalifa, in what the former described as a "historic, warm and hopeful meeting."

"Today... we officially opened the Israeli embassy in Bahrain, in the presence of Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdul Latif Al Zayani. The opening of the embassy symbolizes the political cooperation between us. We also agreed that by the end of the year, the Bahrain embassy in Israel will be opened," Lapid tweeted in Arabic after the ceremony.

Lapid arrived earlier in Bahrain, marking the first official visit by an Israeli minister since the two countries established ties last year. During his short visit, Lapid met with the king of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said.

"King Hamad affirmed that peace is a strategic option for the kingdom and that Bahrain’s vision and approach are based on fostering the values of understanding, dialogue, cooperation, peaceful co-existence, tolerance, and rapprochement among peoples," the agency said.

Lapid also said that he had visited the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet, responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean, and tweeted a picture of the meeting. Bahrain's ambassador to Israel, Khaled Yousif al-Jalahma, took up his post in Tel Aviv last month.

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