Lebanon President Joseph Orn will ask Saudi Arabia to reactivate a $3 billion aid package for the Lebanese army on his visit to the Kingdom next week, Aoun said in an interview with Asharq Television on Friday.
Aoun, who served as commander of the Lebanese army before being elected president on January 9, will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his first overseas trip on Monday, Anadolu reported.
He told Ashaak he asked Riyadh “if it is possible to reinvigorate the grants,” which was suspended in 2016 after Lebanon did not condemn the attack on the Saudi Arabian Foreign Relations Commission in Iran.
The long-released Lebanese military has been caught up in Lebanon’s crushed financial crisis since 2019.
“I am waiting for Saudi Arabia, particularly the Crown Prince, to revise the relationship for the interests of both countries,” Aoun said, adding that he wanted to strengthen economic and political ties.
Lebanon is facing a massive reconstruction bill following Israel’s one-year strike, but Lebanese officials and diplomats say foreign support from the Persian Gulf Arab countries is conditional on Beirut, which enacts the much-anticipated financial reforms.
Aoun said Lebanon was committed to those reforms, but wanted reconstruction aid to come in sequential “in stages.”