Slim denies saying army lacks preparedness

Caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim on Wednesday said a newspaper distorted remarks voiced by him about the Lebanese Army’s preparedness.

“The daily published a headline on its first page that does not match the interview’s content, seeing as it curtailed and distorted what the minister said, especially as to what was mentioned about the army’s lack of combat preparedness,” Slim’s press office said in a statement.

“The Defense Minister talked about the difficulties that the soldiers are facing in their performance of their defense missions, topped by the insufficiency of their financial compensations and the impact of the difficult economic situations that the country is going through on their lives and the lives of their families, in addition to the weak military assets and the need for support from brotherly and friendly countries to enable the army to carry out everything requested from it, especially what was mentioned in Resolution 1701,” the statement said.

In his interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Slim said that he had told all foreign officials whom he had met that the army is in dire need to equip its combat soldiers and to create new combat units should there be a need for a bigger deployment in south Lebanon.

“Resolution 1701 stipulated the deployment of 15,000 Lebanese troops on the southern border, but the army was not able to provide the sufficient number, that’s why we need the support of the friendly countries that care about stability in the region,” the minister added.