Arms Shipments Under Saudi $1 Billion Grant Finalized
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
The Lebanese state has accomplished most of the contracts under a $1 billion aid by Saudi Arabia as a batch of the arms is expected to be handed over “soon” to security agencies.
A prominent security source stressed in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Monday that the Lebanese military finalized all the deals linked to its $500 million as a batch of light arms is “on its way” to be delivered.
“The heavy arms require more time as the procedures differ,” sources told the daily.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq told al-Mustaqbal that the Internal Security Forces' share of the Saudi grant is almost finalized.
“The arms are on the way,” he pointed out.
According to the sources, the arms will improve the capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces to maintain stability amid a shaky security situation, in particular along its border with Syria.
In August, Saudi Arabia pledged a further $1 billion to strengthen the Lebanese army. Several countries, including the United States and France had pledged to deliver arms and military equipment to the Lebanese army to bolster its capabilities as the threat from jihadists in the region grows.
The Islamic State, which controls several areas in Syria and Iraq, aims to spread to Lebanon as its fighters position in the outskirts of Bekaa towns bordering Syria and the Lebanese army is in adamant efforts to stop their efforts to infiltrate the country.
Meanwhile, an official ceremony will take place on Monday as Jordan delivers a batch of arms to the Lebanese army.
Amman had delivered the arms shipment to the Lebanese authorities but the delay in announcing the shipment is due to the execution of Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh by the Islamic State militants earlier this month.
Kassasbeh was captured in December after his F-16 fighter jet went down in Syria.
H.K.
G.K.
23 February 2015, 07:58
185
1 billion dollars yea right. Where is that 1 billion dollars or the 3 billion dollars promised over a year ago. Stop embarrassing yourself dude.
23 February 2015, 08:01
156
final touches final touches loooooooooooooool 7elwe mennak @merkin
23 February 2015, 08:23
1410
@anonym
Right on !! I fully agree with you and I hope the LAF and security forces will have the adequate weapons to defend Lebanon
23 February 2015, 08:57
147
Every time I read articles about the arms to to the LAF I remember you dear flamethrower and wonder how you are as you put the final touches at your final destination while laying in pieces and tranquility..... RIP Shia Hero
23 February 2015, 10:20
814
Final touches again? I count this as the 15th time, atleast.
23 February 2015, 10:49
146
“The arms are on the way,” he pointed out.
don't cry miss tic... we know that strenghtening the army does not please you.....
23 February 2015, 10:55
712
If it actually arrived I would not object it. But since this is yet another Saudi Naharnet scam, and the 15ths time they finalized it. I do not understand how anyone can believe it anymore.
23 February 2015, 12:05
63
nice to see you know better than the army itself.... pityful southern, always ready to make a fool of himself...
you do not care about the lebanese army, all you care about is hezbollah, stop taking us for fools....
23 February 2015, 15:32
22
no southern you are stating NO truth but your truth...
how can you kow better than the army itself? LOOOOOOOOOL
23 February 2015, 10:36
913
Ask anyone you might know in the LAF what do they really get - sunglasses and truck tires. LOL.
23 February 2015, 11:13
99
They were and are, with bravery and equipped with outdated crap. The LAF have far more bravery than armed to the teeth HZBLH.
23 February 2015, 12:11
44
Sure the LAF have bravery, no arguement there. But to say the Resistance lack of it, is pure nonsense and an ignorant comment. They are fighting hard in Syria and the border between every day. Suppressing the takfiri storm trying to swallow up Lebanon, ask soldiers. If the Resistance did not fight overthere. We would all be swallowed up in a matter of weeks.
23 February 2015, 12:25
52
Your "resistance" is actually Impedance. It impedes everything the good country of Lebanon can achieve. And look where it is, 50 years backwards. 30 years being occupied by you know who that the Impedance has embraced and supported.
But thanks for not calling me a Zionist or Takfiri, must be that I praised the LAF.
23 February 2015, 12:44
43
It's not my Resistance, it's the resistance of Lebanon, the same ones that ended the occupation of the South. The same ones fighting Al Nusra & ISIS whom beheads LAF soldiers, why are you against that? You should rather remember some commentators here, whom attacked the LAF for their fighting in Arsal. They claimed the Army is working with Hezbollah, and they were right it's true.
23 February 2015, 12:54
53
Impedance claiming to be fighting to liberate an area the size of the polar region of my left testicle does not make it a national resistance.
All that meanwhile, 25+ years, it turned a blind eye while the entire country was occupied.
That said, they are impeding IS, while defending themselves. There is supposed to be a national army for that.
23 February 2015, 13:12
33
Being occupied by who? Israel or what. If you believe they turned a blind eye to that, then you are more ignorant than i thought. If you mean the Syrians, then I want you to remember they actually ended the civil war here. Another thing is, during the civil war, it was the Kataeb clan among others whom begged Hafez Al Assad to intervene. The Resistance did not even exist back then.
23 February 2015, 13:20
53
Doesn't make an armed militia with foreign ties any more legal. It must disband, those who want to keep wielding a gun join the national army, and stay a political party.
23 February 2015, 13:49
62
You should ask yourself this question. How come the army haven't been allowed to free Arsal? Because there is shackles tied around their legs, that's the national army for you right there. Rifi will say it is an attack against him if it does. The Resistance acts on self defense, instead of waiting for the takfiris to takeover Lebanon, they countered them where they stand.
23 February 2015, 16:27
21
The Resistance are by the Qalamoun mountains, that is the Lebanese border, incase you are a typical American without geographic knowledge. They are also in Golan which borders Lebabon aswell. If Arsal is free, then how come there still are attacks on the LAF from the outskirts? Including IEDs on Lebanese roads, Nusra & ISIS have a foot in Lebabon, but according to Rifi their umbrella, there is "none".
23 February 2015, 10:48
142
I would have preferred that all the money is spent on the poor and the homeless rather than on weapons.
23 February 2015, 10:50
142
By the way, this goes also for all warmongers who are spending billions on weapons instead of helping those who are in need.
23 February 2015, 11:41
85
the voting down machine of southern is quite active these days :) so childish behvior.... hope he will grow up soon :)
23 February 2015, 14:07
44
In Iran it is even worse...may be you are not aware...
both retarded countries...bacward civilizations...
23 February 2015, 14:36
34
Idiot. Lebanon granted the right for women to vote in 1943 even before France (1944). Supporters of backward cultures like yourself are the ones who are destroying Lebanon including the coexistence.
23 February 2015, 16:20
10
أقيم في قاعدة بيروت البحرية، حفل تسلم هبة مقدمة من السلطات الأردنية الى الجيش، في حضور نائب رئيس الأركان للتجهيز العميد الركن مانويل كرجيان ممثلا قائد الجيش العماد جان قهوجي، ومدير التخطيط الاستراتيجي في القوات المسلحة الأردنية اللواء نايل الرقاد إلى جانب عدد من الضباط.
m113والهبة هي عبارة عن ثلاثين ناقلة جند نوع
واثنتي عشرة حاملة مدفع عيار 155 ملم.
23 February 2015, 17:17
22
if those fake "resistants" really want to "resist" then they would make the army stronger by demanding hezbollah to integrate the army...
they have expertise, weapons and knowledge...
but they d rather keep the army begging rather than obeying it so that hezbollah clings on its power...
they believe more in hezbollah than in the state of Lebanon.. so all their barkings is just pure hypocrisy otherwise they'd ask for a political party to obey the laws instead of deciding the fate of the country in its place!
23 February 2015, 22:02
00
"Do you think your western "supporters" and their Arab puppets will allow the RESISTANCE to make the LAF stronger???"
yet they allow the "resistance" to exist, LOL
"Then the LAF would be seen no different than the resistance and a threat to Israeli domination! "
good to say that israel targets the "resistance" and not the LAF and Lebanon!
23 February 2015, 17:25
12
" its obvious to all patriotic Lebanese that the Saudi "grants" are imaginary"
then why hasn't the army said that so far? you know better than them?
23 February 2015, 19:28
11
I guess haters will remain haters, and meanwhile, the army is getting its weapons, slowly maybe but surely definitely. Now it is trickling to bare facts, every gun given the army, every bullet, every howitzer, every APC, every tank, they all go to strengthen an army that is and remains the sole protector of the land, and by the same token, the militias, all the militias will become a thing of the past. As Bachir Gemayel said, the best equipped militia, no matter how well organized it may be, no matter how powerful it may be, is not the slightest bit as effective as even the most defective state. Either we are all with our army, or we shall kiss goodbye to Lebanon, and this time for good.
