Lebanon: the army drawn into the economic crisis
A Lebanese Army Front Armored Vehicle (VAB) in Raas Baalbek on January 23, 2015 (illustrative image).
AFP / STR
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Every day Lebanon plunges a little lower into the economic crisis.
Faced with the situation, France also asked at the beginning of the week to activate levers against the Lebanese leaders in order to force them to act to get out of the crisis.
Faced with the poverty that afflicts the majority of Lebanese, the army now refuses to use force in the face of demonstrators who share the same concerns.
Publicity
Read more
The army's budget has been gradually decreasing for several years.
Today, according to the general Georges Nader on withdrawal, it is simply no longer possible for the military to do their job.
"
How can an army be functional with a 90% reduction in armaments, ammunition and training
?"
How
?
For a soldier whose wife has no pay and who cannot provide a minimum of food for his family.
What can he do?
He arrives in his barracks and his head stays at home.
"
Yet the army is one of the pillars of Lebanon's stability.
She is even the only one still standing, according to researcher Aram Nerguizian of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut: “
2021 should not be the precursor of a civil war.
There are enough tensions and instabilities.
There is also a lot of geopolitical competition between different countries.
It would be a shame if Lebanon, which has done so much to build a professional army, loses this stability because everyone is too busy fighting for their place in Lebanon and foreign donors are not motivated enough.
"
Western countries cannot send money directly to a foreign army.
To deal with the urgent need, France has sent more than 2,000 food rations to the families of soldiers.
But it will quickly be necessary to find a lasting and political solution to prevent the country from collapsing completely.
►
See also:
Identity debate in Lebanon against a background of generalized chaos
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Lebanon