INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Lebanons President Joseph Aoun will ask Saudi Arabia to reactivate a $3-billion aid bundle to the Lebanese army in his visit to the kingdom
next week, Aoun stated in an interview with Asharq television broadcast on Friday.Aoun, who was functioning as leader of Lebanons army
before he was chosen president on January 9, is set to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday in his very first trip
abroad, Anadolu reported.He told Asharq he would ask Riyadh if it is possible to reactivate the grant stopped in 2016, after Lebanon
stopped working to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic objectives in Iran.The Lebanese army, which has actually long been underequipped, has
actually reeled under Lebanons crushing financial crisis given that 2019
I hope and I await from Saudi Arabia - and specifically the Crown Prince - to correct the relationship in the interests of both countries,
Aoun stated, including he expected strengthened economic and political ties.Lebanon faces a huge restoration expense following a year of
Israeli strikes on the nation, but Lebanese officials and diplomats say foreign assistance - consisting of from the Persian Gulf Arab
specifies - is contingent on Beirut enacting long-awaited financial reforms.Aoun said Lebanon was dedicated to those reforms but hoped that
the reconstruction help in turn would come action by step to enable restoring so that Lebanese displaced from ruined villages in the south
