Shuttle Diplomacy as Lebanon Faces Gripping Crises
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Former French Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Edouard Guillaud is expected to arrive in Lebanon next week on a two-day official visit at a time Lebanon is witnessing “intensive diplomatic moves.”
According to An Nahar Guillaud, who will arrive on Thursday, will visit Beirut to follow up the implementation of a $3 billion arms deal under a Saudi grant.
A French delegation is currently in Lebanon to finalize the deal and kick off the arming process.
The French delegation comprises of 30 representatives of the French state and the military industry. They are in Lebanon to finalize the quality of arms the Lebanese military needs from the Saudi grant's remaining 150-300 million dollars, the daily previously reported.
France and Saudi Arabia signed the agreement at the beginning of November for Paris to provide the Lebanese military with $3 billion worth of weapons paid for by Riyadh.
The deal, which was first announced last year in December, aims to boost the army as it struggles to contain a rising tide of violence linked to the civil war in Syria.
French Foreign Ministry official Jean Francois Giraud, Head of the North Africa and Middle East Department, is also expected to arrive in Lebanon on December 8 on a two-day official visit ahead of his trip to Iran.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam had announced during his visit to Brussels earlier this week that newly appointed European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is expected to arrive soon in Lebanon.
Al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Saturday that several Iranian officials, including Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani, will also travel to Beirut for talks with senior Lebanese officials.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since the end of President Michel Suleiman's tenure in May over sharp differences among the parliamentary blocs on a compromise head of state.
The sharply divided country over the war in neighboring country Syria has been battling Syria-based Islamic militants, including the extremist Islamic State group and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, in areas near the border.
The army and security forces had been carrying out raids in recent months in various regions throughout Lebanon in search of wanted fugitives and suspected terrorists.
H.K.
D.A.
06 December 2014, 12:02
03
Please, instead of us trying to work around anew hybrid law as our Ali Baba Berri is proposing, instead of having to deal with a militia that wants to take it all, instead of having to deal with rising radicalism, can we just go for a referendum in which we will be asked if we Lebanese want to return under French rule and protection. I am in no doubt whatsoever that most Lebanese will vote YES, and resoundingly so.
06 December 2014, 12:07
03
(1). Since Independence, our leaders, all our leaders have established for themselves clear cut territories. Brought in waves and waves of refugees, brought to us war after war. They've stolen our beaches, our lands, our social security, they've stolen the nation's treasury, they've stolen everything that can be stolen, they've ruled disgracefully and they still rule till now. Since independence, how many Lebanese have had to leave Lebanon in search of a better income abroad? And does anyone here know for sure the extreme suffering these people go through? How many Lebanese today can afford hospitalization or medication or education? How many of our youths cannot get married because they cannot afford a house or even its rent? Sectarianism has blinded our vision all because these leaders want us to think as such.
06 December 2014, 12:11
04
(2). Lebanon is a fake country, a fake republic it's a fake everything. After 7 decades of so-called independence, we don't even know what self-rule is all about. Everyone since decades wants to tell us how to solve our problems, money is being pumped like crazy and it all goes to the thieves politicians. Our passport can't even take us from one part of Lebanon to the other, let alone travel normally worldwide. We sit all day at embassies like beggars waiting to be given stipends, why? because we are not fit for ruling ourselves, we are not fit for anything, we are not fit to think for ourselves and now we are so damn poor that we are not fit for even lifting our pants up by ourselves without having our politicians help us do it. The best thing, let France return and take us over, and save us from our leaders, amen.
