Hariri Travels to Paris after Visiting Yarze in Show of Support to Army
Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri said on Monday that Arab states would continue to back Lebanon despite a halt to billions of dollars of Saudi assistance to the army and security forces.
Following a meeting with Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel in Yarze, Hariri said: “We are confident that our Arab brethren will not let go of us. The Saudi grant has been frozen but we are exerting an effort to stress that we back the military.”
Saudi Arabia has cut $4 billion in aid to the army and security forces and has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon to put pressure on Hizbullah.
Earlier this month, the Saudi-led bloc of six Gulf Arab nations considered Hizbullah a terrorist organization.
Hariri said his visit to the defense ministry in Yarze was aimed at showing solidarity with the army and extending his condolences on the death of a soldier in the northeastern border town of Arsal last week.
Mohammed Hussam al-Sayyed al-Sabsabi was killed on Thursday when the army launched a preemptive strike against jihadists from the Islamic State group on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek in the East.
“We have a powerful army and strong security forces that protect us and protect Lebanon against all dangers,” said the former prime minister.
Hariri reiterated that the IS “does not represent Islam.”
In the evening, the former premier traveled to Paris for a "private visit," his office said.
Media reports said Hariri will spend several days in the French capital.
The threat of the IS and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front rose in August 2014 when the jihadists overran Arsal and engaged in heavy gunbattles with the army.
The militants also took with them 30 hostages from the army and police.
After long negotiations, 16 of the kidnapped men were released at the start of December in exchange for Islamist prisoners jailed in Lebanon.
G.K.
M.T.
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