Shuttle Diplomacy as Lebanon Faces Gripping Crises
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.
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