Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Saudi Arabia 'to give Lebanon army $3bn grant'

il conflitto ormai sembra si stia estendendo ufficialmente al Libano con 
ingresso di sauditi e francesi
 
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25544352
 
 
29 December 2013 Last updated at 21:13 GMT
 
Saudi Arabia 'to give Lebanon army $3bn grant'
 
Saudi Arabia is to give Lebanon's army a grant of $3bn (ï¿œ1.8bn, 2.8bn 
euros).
 
Lebanese President Michel Sleiman made the announcement in a televised 
address after the funeral of a senior Lebanese politician killed in a 
car bomb attack. He said it would help fight terrorism.
 
Mohamad Chatah, a Sunni Muslim, was a staunch critic of Syrian President 
Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Shia Hezbollah movement that backs him.
 
Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah have taken opposite sides in the Syrian conflict.
 
Coming to the boil
 
"The king of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is offering this 
generous and appreciated aid of $3bn to the Lebanese army to strengthen 
its capabilities," Mr Sleiman said in his address.
 
He said it was the largest assistance provided in Lebanon's history and 
would be used to buy weapons from France.
 
French President Francois Hollande said his country would "meet" any 
demands for weapons from Lebanon during a visit on Sunday to Saudi 
Arabia aimed at boosting commercial ties with the kingdom.
 
"I am in touch with President Sleiman... If demands are made to us, we 
will meet them," he said.
 
President Sleiman said the Saudi aid would finally allow the Lebanese 
army to "confront terrorism" and put an end to the proliferation of arms.
 
The BBC's Arab Affairs Editor Sebastian Usher said the president 
indirectly touched on a dangerous taboo in Lebanon - the unchecked power 
of the Shia movement, Hezbollah.
 
That issue is coming to the boil due to the conflict in neighbouring 
Syria where Hezbollah is fighting on the side of President Assad, our 
correspondent says.
 
Heinous crime
The Saudis back the other side - the mostly Sunni rebels. The kingdom 
also supports the pro-western March 14 alliance in Lebanon, of which 
Mohamad Chatah was a leading member.
 
Lebanon has been hit by a wave of attacks linked to heightened 
Sunni-Shia tensions over the Syrian war.
 
Mr Chatah was buried on Saturday amid tight security.
 
The former Lebanese minister and opposition figure was killed by a car 
bomb on Friday, which also killed six other people and injured at least 50.
 
No-one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Mr Hariri 
implicitly accused Hezbollah of carrying it out.
 
Hezbollah rejected the accusation, calling the bombing a "heinous crime, 
which comes in the context of a series of crimes and explosions aimed at 
sabotaging the country".
 
Syria also denied any involvement in the attack.

 Saudi Arabia is to give Lebanon's army a grant of $3bn (�1.8bn, 2.8bn 

Fantastico vero?
 
Lo sapevi che furono i Francesi a inventarsi il Libano?
Di fatto fa parte della Siria, guarda una mappa qualsiasi.
 
I beduini la stanno facendo grossa e fuori dal vaso.
 
 
 
 

> Saudi Arabia is to give Lebanon's army a grant of $3bn (ï¿œ1.8bn, 2.8bn

il Libano conosce la sua individualitï¿œ culturale ed economica se 
vogliamo fin dal tempo dei fenici, la costituzione del Libano moderno 
risale le sue origini nella storia fin dal medioevo. Ma immagino che ad 
Assad piaccia la favoletta della 'Grande Siria".