Lebanese Armed Forces chief General Jean Kahwaji would head to Saudi Arabia on Saturday to sign the protocol between Lebanon, France and Saudi Arabia on the $3 billion military grant that the kingdom provided to Lebanon , President Michel Suleiman announced at a reconciliation ceremony between Druze and Christians in the Shouf town of Brih on Saturday.
Last December president Suleiman announced that Saudi Arabia had pledged $3 billion to buy arms for the Lebanese Army from France to help support and strengthen the military.
“I am pleased to announce to the Lebanese people that Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud has decided to offer Lebanon a generous grant of $3 billion to help the Lebanese Armed Forces receive new weapons,” the president said in a televised address to the nation last December.
“Enhancing the army’s capabilities is a unifying national and popular demand and a source of pride and it is a dream that I always had during my 41 years of military service, and it is the dream of every Lebanese since independence to confront the Israeli threat, protect democracy, face terrorism and put an end to the proliferation of arms,” said the president in his televised address
Suleiman described the move as “the biggest support in Lebanon’s history,” pointing out that it is “sufficient to enable the army to perform its missions.”
“The initiative is an honest reflection of the kingdom’s efforts to preserve Lebanon,” Suleiman said.
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