Saudi Arabia gives Lebanon $3bn to bolster military

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Saudi Arabia gives Lebanon $3bn to bolster military

Lizzy Davies in Rome and agencies in Beirut
The Guardian, Sunday 29 December 2013 18.35 GMT

Lebanon said on Sunday night that it had received its biggest ever infusion of military aid, as Saudi Arabia offered to contribute $3bn to bolster the country's beleaguered army in the face of spiralling violence and fallout from the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

The president, Michel Suleiman, said on national television that he would discuss the purchase of French weapons with his visiting French counterpart, François Hollande, as a result of the donation.

"The king of the brotherly kingdom of Saudi Arabia is offering this generous and appreciated aid of $3bn to the Lebanese army to strengthen its capabilities," Suleiman said in a televised address. "The Saudi grant will allow the Lebanese army to purchase weapons from France."

Lebanon is struggling to cope with the fallout from the civil war in Syria. That conflict has deeply divided Lebanon along sectarian lines, and paralysed the country's ramshackle political system to the point that it has been stuck with a weak and ineffectual caretaker government since April.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/29/saudi-arabia-lebanon-military-aid

[SummerSnow]

1. Ok..so now since Saudi Arabia..

is writing military checks to Lebanon, does this mean we dont have to give them military aid anymore? We have given them $400'million in military aid since 2005. Just asking.