Diplomats: Sisi Likely to Announce Military Grant to Lebanon during Salam Visit
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to announce Egypt's backing for the Lebanese army during a meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam in Cairo next week, Arab diplomats said Thursday.
The diplomats, who were not identified, told al-Joumhouria newspaper that Sisi could announce his country's readiness to assist the military institution through a grant, which would set the stage for a visit of a Lebanese army delegation to Cairo.
Salam's talks with Sisi and his Egyptian counterpart Ibrahim Mahlab next Wednesday are also likely to focus on the fate of Egyptian arms that Cairo had promised to deliver to Lebanon during visits made by al-Mustaqbal movement leader Saad Hariri and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq last year.
The talks for Egypt to hand over the weapons to Lebanon were as part of a grant that late Saudi King Abdullah had made to help the Lebanese army and security forces confront the wave of terrorism striking the country.
The sources told the newspaper that Sisi would announce his backing to the Lebanese government and call for political and security stability in the country.
He is also expected to make an initiative aimed at facilitating the election of a new president to end the paralysis of constitutional institutions, the diplomats said.
Baabda Palace has been vacant since President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ended in May last year.
Salam is likely to decide over the weekend which cabinet ministers and advisers will accompany him to Egypt, the sources added.
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