Aid ‘will stabilise’ Lebanon

RIYADH // French foreign minister Jean- Marc Ayrault said he was confident that a Saudi- funded military aid package for Lebanon would be restored.

On a visit to Riyadh to meet senior government officials, Mr Ayrault said the package was needed to help bring stability to Lebanon.

“It’s a country that should be helped,” he said. “And I know that the Lebanese army is a factor for unity. So it’s true that aid can help stabilise things.” A combined US$ 4 billion (Dh14.7bn) aid package from Riyadh will fund the transfer of vehicles, helicopters, drones, cannons and other military equipment from France to the Lebanese army.

Saudi Arabia halted the programme last year in protest at what it said was “the stranglehold of Hizbollah on the state” in Lebanon.

Asked if the package would be restored, Mr Ayrault said things were moving in “a good direction. So I am confident”.

The potential turnaround came after a visit to Riyadh earlier this month by Lebanese president Michel Aoun, who was elected in a November vote that ended a two-year deadlock between Sunni and Shiite- backed blocs in the Lebanese parliament. A member of Mr Aoun’s delegation said during the visit that Riyadh and Beirut had agreed to hold talks on how to move forward with the package. Mr Ayrault visited the US$22.5bn Riyadh Metro rapid transit project.

French infrastructure company Alstom is a member of a consortium on the metro project, building part of the track network as well as supplying rail cars.