"This decision comes in order to strengthen the brotherly relations between the two countries and its peoples and promote mutual respect," the Bahrain News Agency reported citing the country’s foreign ministry.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the announcement.

Bahrain, along with a number of other Gulf Arab states, recalled its ambassador to Lebanon in 2021 after then-Lebanese Minister of Information George Kordahi expressed support for Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and criticized the military intervention led by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait resumed their ties with Lebanon in April 2022.

The resumption of diplomatic relations between Bahrain and Lebanon comes on the heels of a wave of strategic rapprochement in the region, including Syria’s re-admittance to the Arab League after over a decade of isolation since the outbreak of civil war in 2011.

Similarly, regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran, restored bilateral relations in April via a Chinese-brokered deal deemed a diplomatic breakthrough on all sides.