Beirut has requested Moscow to supply the Russian Kornet anti-tank guided missiles, T-72 main battle tanks and cannons, and expects to receive the weaponry within a year, Lebanese Ambassador to Russia Chawki Bou Nassar told Sputnik.
“Lebanon needs weapons to fight these people [terrorists], and especially the Russian rockets, there is one well known, Kornet, because Lebanon got some of the weapons and used them effectively, and is still working with the Russian side to provide these kinds of weapons… Kornet, and the cannons, and the tanks, T-72 tanks, although old — but Russia promised to renovate them and to update the systems in these tanks — and of course the shells for the cannons, ammunition,” Nassar said.
The ambassador stressed that Lebanon needs weapons to fight terrorist groups, such as the Daesh and the Nusra Front, on the Syrian border. The two jihadist militant organizations, both outlawed in many countries, including Russia, have seized parts of Syria.
Earlier, Lebanon had to get French weapons in $3 bln Saudi deal, but Saudi Arabia has suspended a $3 billion aid package to the Lebanese Army to buy French weapons and decided to receive 200 armoured vehicles that it ordered from France for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).