Saudi Arabia to give Lebanese army $3 bln

Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman said Sunday that Saudi Arabia has pledged $3 billion to buy weapons from France to help support and strengthen the Lebanese army.

"Saudi Arabia is giving the Lebanese army $3 billion in aid," Sleiman said, calling it the largest grant ever given to the country's armed forces.  
      
"The king of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz is offering this generous and appreciated aid of $3 billion to the Lebanese army to strengthen its capabilities," Sleiman said.  

Sleiman described efforts to maintain Lebanon's stability as a constitutional duty that should be assumed by all officials.       

Lebanon has seen a wave of deadly bombings and shootings that have fueled fears that the country, which suffered a brutal 15-year civil war of its own that only ended in 1990, could be slowly slipping back toward full-blown sectarian conflict. The latest violence took place on Friday, when a car bomb killed a senior Sunni politician who had been critical of Syria and its Lebanese ally, the Shiite group Hezbollah.
 
In a nod to those concerns, Sleiman said in his address that "Lebanon is threatened by sectarian conflict and extremism," and said that strengthening the army is a popular demand.
 
President Sleiman's comments were made during a televised speech after he canceled his press conference that was scheduled for this evening.

Saudi Arabia's contribution was discussed during President Sleiman's last visit to the Kingdom last November. No one reportedly knew about the assistance except a very small group close to the President.

REUTERS/LBCI/AP