French Defense Minister Arrives in Beirut on April 20 to Oversee Arms Delivery
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to kick off a two-day visit to Lebanon later this month to oversee the delivery of French arms to Lebanese military under a Saudi financed deal.
According to An Nahar newspaper, Le Drian will arrive in Beirut on April 20 to attend a ceremony on the delivery of the first shipment of $3 billion worth of weapons to the army.
He will hold talks with prominent Lebanese leaders, including Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji.
The daily said that French authorities formally informed its Lebanese counterpart of Le Drian's visit.
Saudi Arabia and France inked the deal in Riyadh in November.
The deal also includes training programs for the Lebanese army run by the French military.
It aims to boost Lebanon's military as it struggles to contain the rising tide of violence linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria.
Saudi Arabia last year announced it would give the Lebanese army $3 billion to purchase weapons and equipment from France, but that deal has yet to be fully implemented.
In August, the kingdom offered another $1 billion in funds to allow the army to purchase supplies immediately.
H.K.
M.T.
10 April 2015, 09:17
00
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.
10 April 2015, 09:34
54
KSA assists the institutions of the Lebanese state. Iran undermines them.
10 April 2015, 10:17
00
yes madame, flamethrower is having meeting in his office at Manar in Dahieh. Can I take a message?
10 April 2015, 13:09
32
(1). Well, I am truly disappointed, here I am having opened this thread not see the usual pro-Hezbollah rants casting every single doubt on the arms deal for our army. Well, even though the process of delivering these weapons seem to take time, that is fully understandable, but the process is ongoing and is being done with every single precaution taken on the way. What this will bring about though is simple, the more weapons the army receives, the better the army will do its job. The better the army does its job, the more viable Lebanon becomes as a state. The more viable it becomes, the better would its constitutional institutions work. The better they work, the more powerful the state becomes, the stronger it becomes, the more solid would its will, and then the weaker would every single militia become.
10 April 2015, 13:10
32
(2). It's a time related process which will gradually emasculate our army of mercenaries for rent or better known as Hezbollah, sadly once renown as our noble resistance, sadly, once a highly respected and loved entity that fell from Olympian heights to gutter lows nowadays. God bless the Lebanese Army, and a big thank you for friendly nations that are making it happen finally for us.
