Saudi halts US$3 billion in aid to Lebanon army — official
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said Friday it has halted a US $3 billion programme for military supplies to Lebanon in protest against Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group fighting in support of Syria’s regime.
In light of positions taken by Hezbollah the kingdom proceeded to ‘a comprehensive review of its relations with the Lebanese republic’, an unnamed official told the Saudi Press Agency.
It added that the remainder of a US$1 billion financing package for Lebanese internal security forces had also been stopped, in a separate decision.
A Lebanese military source told AF P that the‘ Lebanese army command hasn’t been informed’ of the Saudi aid halt. Hezbollah, however, said the Saudi decision came as no surprise and ‘was taken quite some time ago’. The US$3 billion deal funded military equipment provided by France.
The modernisation programme, known in France as Donas, aimed to ensure stability in a Lebanon weakened by internal division sand threatened by jihadists.
Alleged leaders of Lebanonbased Hezbollah are under sanction by Saudi Arabia.
Hezbollah is supported by the kingdom’s regional rival Iran, with whom relations have worsened this year.
Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran last month after demonstrators stormed its embassy and a consulate following the Saudi execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric and activist. The official quoted by the Saudi Press Agency said the kingdom had noticed ‘hostile Lebanese positions resulting from the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the State’. — AFP