DOHA: Qatar is to renew a $60 million grant to pay the salaries of Lebanon’s army and provide 162 military vehicles, the two countries said following Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s first official visit to the Gulf state. Qatar’s ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani “announced the renewal of the Qatari grant to support the salaries of the Lebanese army, amounting to USD 60 million, in addition to 162 military vehicles,” a joint statement said.

It added the provisions were to enable Lebanon’s army to “carry out its national duties of maintaining stability and controlling the borders throughout Lebanese territory”. Aoun, who was elected in January after more than two years of caretaker government in Beirut, has been tasked with charting a course out of the country’s worst economic crisis and reconstruction after all-out war between Zionists and Hezbollah.

The Lebanese President arrived in Qatar on Tuesday accompanied by foreign minister Youssef Raggi, and departed Doha on Wednesday afternoon, the official Qatar News Agency reported. The gas-rich Gulf state in February pledged support for reconstruction in Lebanon after the recent conflict and was already a provider of financial and in-kind support to the Lebanese army. “Both sides emphasized the national role of the Lebanese army, the importance of supporting it, and the need to implement Resolution 1701 in all its provisions,” the joint statement added, urging “de-escalation in southern Lebanon”.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 ended a 2006 war between Zionists and Hezbollah and formed the basis of the November truce that largely ended more than a year of fresh hostilities between Zionists and the Iran-backed group. The resolution calls for the disarmament of all non-state armed groups and said Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon. Zionist entity was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems “strategic”.- AFP