Lebanon will ask Saudi Arabia to resume $3-billion grant to army

1/3/2025 5:59

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun will ask Saudi Arabia to reactivate a $3-billion aid package to the Lebanese army in his visit to the kingdom next week, Aoun said in an interview with Asharq television broadcast on Friday.



Aoun, who was serving as commander of Lebanon's army before he was elected president on January 9, is set to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday in his first trip abroad.



He told Asharq he would ask Riyadh "if it is possible to reactivate the grant" halted in 2016, after Lebanon failed to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.



Saudi Arabia once spent billions in Lebanon, depositing funds in the central bank, helping to rebuild the south after the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, and supporting a number of Lebanese politicians, only to see Hezbollah grow more powerful with Iran's support and its influence spread across the Middle East.



But recent months have seen seismic political shifts in the region, with Israel pummelling Iran-backed Hezbollah last year and Hezbollah's Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.