Russia to supply Lebanon with weapons and ammunition

Article

Russia will deliver a few dozens tanks, artillery weapons and ammunition to Lebanon; such is the outcome of the meeting between the Russian President and the Lebanese Prime Minister on Tuesday.

The two leaders discussed prospects of further Russia-Lebanon co-operation in military, oil and gas industries, energy and culture.

“It will be 31 T-72 tanks, 6 Mi-24 helicopters, 36 130-mm weapons and ammunition for all the arms,” Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Lebanon will pay for some of the items, and some of them will be delivered to the country free of charge.

Compared to other arms deals, this really isnt that high.

The thing that interests me in this, is the political stuff that will come along with this. How are the surrounding countries going to react to this? Im guessing Israel is going to be pretty mad, even though their military would decimate all the arms that came along with this, if its only the arms described in the article.

According to Ruslan Pukhov, the director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Lebanon’s neighbors – Israel and Syria – are not going to be happy about the re-armament. This is partly due to the fact that they do not want to see a stronger Lebanese army, but beside that, there are fears that the new arms could end up in the hands of terrorists.

Im not really sure how some T-72's or Mi-24's would end up in the hands of terrorists, but I guess its possible. I always thought Syria was on good realations with Lebanon?

reply to post by buni11687


The Lebanese army is generally pretty weak. I don't think this will worry the superior Israeli forces should Lebanese army try & shoot an IDF Soldier on his side of the fence.

Israel will bitch and whine.

The very same Israel whose lobbyists and shills in Washington blocked any US arms deals with Lebanon instead just a mere couple of months ago, thus making Lebanon turn to other countries for arms.