Lebanon Army chief General Jean Kahwaji stressed on Thursday that the military is well equipped to engage in fierce battles with terrorists in the northeastern border town of Arsal
He revealed that the United States and France will provide the institution with additional aid to deal with terrorism .
“We have all the essential equipment to engage in a long and fierce battle with the terrorists,” Kahwaji said in comments published by the lebanese daily As Safir newspaper
He denied that the army lacked the essential equipment required to deal with the Arsal clashes.
He also revealed that the U.S. accelerated the pace of delivery of the military aid to the army.
Asked about the $3 billion deal financed by Saudi Arabia and the addition $1 billion Saudi grant for the army, Kahwaji stressed that the delay in receiving the French arms was due to bureaucracy and routine paperwork but the army has already started purchasing arms under the $1 billion grant .
Last August, former PM and Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri announced that Saudi Arabia, would grant Lebanon $1 billion to shore up the army and security forces against jihadists , in addition to Saudi Arabia’s $3-billion package of French military equipment and arms that was announced towards the end of 2013
He stressed that Army units deployed in the Bekaa town controlled all crossings and roads between Arsal and its outskirts.
Arsal lies 12 kilometers from the border with Syria and has been used as a conduit for weapons and rebels to enter Syria, while also serving as a refuge for people fleeing the conflict in the neighboring country.
The town witnessed clashes in August between the army and Islamist militants from Syria prompted by the arrest of a member of the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.
Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have taken shelter in the Bekaa town, where many residents sympathize with the Syrian uprising against President Bashar Assad.
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