The President of Lebanon Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian, began his
first trip in the Arabian Peninsula with the first result of mending
relations with Saudi Arabia, which last year had experienced moments of
high tension, to the point of suspending military aid, amounting to $3
billion, that the Saudi government had previously destined for the
Lebanese armed forces.
On Tuesday 10 January, the interview which took
place in Ryiad between President Aoun and Saudi King Salman, according
to many analysts could open a new page in the relations between the two
Countries, contributing to the stabilization of the Middle Eastern area.
According to statements by a member of the Lebanese delegation,
reported by the national press, the issue of the blockade of the Saudis
funding to Lebanon in the military field was also touched, and there
will soon be talks between officials of the two parties in charge of
operating the transfer of funds.
The new perspective that opens to the relations between Lebanon and
Saudi Arabia is an effect of the new Lebanese political season,
inaugurated by the election for the office of President of General Aoun,
after more than two and a half years of presidential vacatio, and
strenghtened after the settlement of the new government in December, led
by Sunni leader Saad Hariri.
Last year, Saudi Arabia had frozen funding to Lebanon to express its
distrust towards the influential role played by the pro-Iranian Shiite
movement Hezbollah on the Lebanese political scene.
In recent years,
Aoun and his party, the Free Patriotic Movement, have been the main
political partners allied with Hezbollah.
The re-mending with Saudi
Arabia confirms that the line pursued by President Aoun is to also favor
at a regional level - dominated by the contrast between the same Arabia
and Iran - the compromise and settlement between opposed forces, so
that the different geopolitical actors come to terms, giving up a part
of its claims.
The different partners of Lebanon - Aoun himself pointed
out during his visit to Ryiad - have decided to contribute to the
maintenance and development of the Country of cedars, because they
realized that the strengthening of Lebanon promotes "security and
stability for all".