Lebanese Army Denies French Missiles are Malfunctioning
The Lebanese army denied on Wednesday that Milan anti-tank missiles delivered by France to the Lebanese army under a Saudi grant two months ago are dysfunctional.
The military said in a communique that army experts had thoroughly inspected the missiles during delivery.
“They have no technical or production malfunction,” said the communique.
The army urged the media to be accurate in dealing with any information relating to the military.
The communique was issued after highly-informed sources told As Safir daily that some of the missiles are dysfunctional.
The sources said that the missiles are old and were shipped from French depots to coincide with the ceremony that was held in Beirut during French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's visit in April.
They stressed that the Lebanese army has the right to replace the weapons that do not meet the required standards.
Lebanon received in April the first shipment of $3 billion worth of French arms under the Saudi-financed deal aimed at boosting the country's defensive capabilities to combat terror threats.
During the ceremony Le Drian, revealed that around 60 French officers will also arrive in Lebanon to oversee the training of Lebanese troops on the use of the arms.
He said that France will oversee the implementation of the Saudi deal over a 10-year period.
Despite the claim made by As Safir's sources, officials following up the delivery of the arms stressed to the newspaper that the missiles could not be dysfunctional.
The reason behind some problems the army is facing in using them could lie in the launchers and not the rockets themselves, they said.
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