BEIRUT: Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi will attend a signing ceremony Tuesday to close a long-awaited $3 billion weapons deal financed by Saudi Arabia and to be delivered by France, a security source said.
The source told The Daily Star that the Army chief, at the invitation of Saudi Arabia, left Beirut for Riyadh Monday.
The final deal between France and Saudi Arabia to provide Lebanon’s Army with $3 billion in arms comes after a nearly one-year delay.
The deal, first announced in December, comes as the poorly equipped Lebanese Army battles jihadists in the north and along its border with war-torn Syria.
“This battle requires equipment, material and technology that the Army doesn’t have,” Kahwagi told AFP in August, urging France to speed up the promised arms supplies.
Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reported Monday that the agreement would be signed at the royal palace in Riyadh, citing unidentified French sources.
A source quoted by AFP said the deal would be “rapidly implemented” with the first arms shipment to be delivered “within a month.”
The Saudi aid was announced late last year, but Riyadh has reportedly held back on finalizing the deal over concerns that the weapons could benefit its archfoe Hezbollah.
Lebanon has been engaged in a war against jihadists along the border with Syria after Islamist militants briefly overran the northeastern town of Arsal in early August.
The Army has received batches of weapons and military equipment from the U.K. and the U.S.
Lebanon is also waiting on another Saudi military donation worth $1 billion announced in August.
Iran has also pledged military aid to Lebanon, and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel last month visited Tehran to discuss the terms of the offer.
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