Saudi Arabia's Aid to Lebanon Presents Challenge for Iran
Dec. 31, 2013 - 03:45AM | By AWAD MUSTAFA
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20131231/DEFREG04/312310006/Saudi-Arabia-s-Aid-Lebanon-Presents-Challenge-Iran

DUBAI — The $3 billion Saudi Arabian grant to the Lebanese Army to buy
equipment from France will prove to be a real test for Iran’s new foreign
policy, according to a leading expert.

The grant, described by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman as the largest
ever given to the country’s armed forces, represents the more proactive role
Saudi Arabia is playing in Middle Eastern politics. It will also force Iran
to present more concessions in its efforts to lift international sanctions
that have crippled the country, said Riad Kahwaji, founder and CEO of the
Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Beirut and Dubai.

On Sunday in a televised address, Suleiman said “the king of the brotherly
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is offering this generous and appreciated aid of $3
billion to the Lebanese Army to strengthen its capabilities.”

“This Saudi-French move has made Iran’s task of rapprochement with the
western powers tougher,” Kahwaji said. “Now Iran has to give up more than
their nuclear program for the lifting of the sanctions.”

Kahwaji said that with the Lebanese military receiving a grant that is
double its existing budget, the centralized government will have more power
and will be well-equipped to deal with the security threats. In addition,
the capability will present a counterbalance to Hezbollah, which is the main
anchor of military might in Lebanon.

“Israel will wait and watch how this will unfold,” he added. “Currently
Hezbollah is at its most vulnerable situation, they are in Syria and are
over stretched.”

He said the Israeli response this week to the cross-border rocket fire from
Lebanon was the strongest since the 2006 war between the two countries.

“The Lebanese Army will have access to weaponry worth $3 billion from
France,” he said. “The Lebanese follow the French doctrines and are expected
to equip their special forces, naval capabilities and air support
capabilities.”

Lebanon has 12,000 special operations forces who have been “unevenly
equipped.”

“The special forces, I expect, will be the first to be armed with high-tech
equipment in addition to communications systems and short range air defense
systems,” he said.

Kahwaji added that the UK has given the green light to the United Arab
Emirates to transfer 10 Hawk light attack jets to Lebanon that can provide
close-air support to their ground troops.

“According to the Lebanese Air Force command, their fighter jet needs are
not for MiG-29s or F-16s but rather for close-air support fighters,” he
said.

The Lebanese armed forces have been struggling to deal with violence
spreading over the border from Syria’s civil war and has seen clashes
between gunmen loyal to opposing sides of the Syrian conflict, as well as
militant attacks on the Army itself.

Lebanon’s Army is seen as one of the few institutions not overtaken by
sectarian divisions that plague the country. But it is ill-equipped to deal
with internal militant groups, particularly the Shi’ite Muslim guerrilla and
political movement Hezbollah, which is funded by the regional Shi’ite power
Iran.