First delivery of French weapons arrives in Lebanon
Nearly 16 months since the announcement of $3 billion in Saudi military aid to Lebanon, the first weapons shipment from France has already disappointed.
Some 16 months after the December 2013 announcement of the Saudi donation to buy French weapons for the Lebanese military, the first shipment finally came on April 20. However, it seemed awfully modest compared to what had been promised. More importantly, it was much less than what the Lebanese military urgently needs.
It all started during a news conference by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Dec. 29, 2013, when he announced that Riyadh had decided to offer the Lebanese military $3 billion, to be allocated for the purchase of weapons and ammunition from Paris exclusively.
The implementation of the deal was delayed more than once as several complications disrupted the process. At one point, there was talk of a problem between the Lebanese and French commissions over disparities between the list of weapons proposed by the Lebanese military and that of the French authorities. At other times, there were different views expressed by Beirut and Paris regarding the weapons the Lebanese military needs, and the ones that the French authorities believe would be of better use. For months, talk about the largest deal in the history of the Lebanese military carried on, while the Lebanese continue to wait for its implementation.
After his Oct. 7 meeting with French President Francois Hollande, former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced from Paris that the delivery of weapons promised in the infamous deal would begin within days.
