PARIS: Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said on Saturday that the kingdom will take delivery of French arms it originally ordered for Lebanon.
“We made the decision that we will stop the $3 billion from going to the Lebanese military and instead they will be rediverted to the Saudi military,” Al-Jubeir told journalists during a visit in Paris.
“So the contracts (with France) will be completed but the clients will be the Saudi military,” he said.
Riyadh granted the aid package to boost Lebanon’s security amid rising threats from militants. But cancelled the aid in response to Beirut’s failure to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.
Saudi officials lamented that Beirut had been showing hostile acts, blaming the Iran-backed Hezbollah of maintaining a stranglehold on the government to pursue its agenda.
Hezbollah militias had also been fighting with the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, along with their Iranian backers. Iran is being accused by Gulf states of fomenting sectarian unrest in the region by interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
Syria conflict
Al-Jubeir on Friday also said that Assad must leave at the beginning of a political transition, not at the end.
“For us it is very clear it’s at the beginning of the process, not at the end of the process, it’s not going to be 18 months,” he said.
His comments came days before the United Nations plans to reconvene peace talks to try to end the five-year-old civil war in Syria.
The United States and other Western governments that were previously calling for Assad’s early departure have quietly backed away from that demand as his position has been strengthened by Russia’s military involvement in Syria since last September.
© 2024 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.