The shipment provided to the Lebanese army by the US includes 50 armored vehicles, 40 artillery pieces, and 50 grenade launchers. This new $50 million package brings US military aid to Lebanon to $220 million this year, Reuters reports, citing the US ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard

The US handed three military helicopters over to the Lebanese army in March, while the UK promised to provide training for Lebanon’s Land Border Regiments. The UK is to spend $30 million to train Lebanese troops in special “urban counterterrorism” techniques over three years. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia, a traditional financial supporter of Lebanon, has announced that it is suspending a $3 billion aid package for Lebanese security forces because of what it called Beirut’s failure to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran in January.

By Daily Star,

Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi Monday threatened to expel Swedes working in Lebanon if Stockholm follows through with its reported plan to deport dozens of Lebanese families. In a message to Swedish Ambassador to Lebanon Peter Semneby, Azzi demanded an explanation over the Lebanese Foreign Ministry's claim that Sweden was preparing to deport around 70 Lebanese families.

"If the deportation was legally unjustified then Lebanon’s Labor Ministry will take similar measures against Swedish workers in Lebanon, whatever their occupation and status are," Azzi said in a statement issued by his press office. Reports circulated earlier this year that Sweden and Finland had decided to deport up to 100,000 immigrant workers who had been living in their countries for many years to make room for Syrian refugees. Semneby flatly denied those allegations in June, however Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has continued to bring the issue up.

By Al Monitor - Members of the Lebanese delegation to the 2016 Olympic Games refused to travel on the same bus as their Israeli counterparts in Rio on Friday, according to a report from Israel , with some attempting to block athletes from entering the vehicle, according to a report by an Israeli trainer who claimed to have witnessed the scene.

“I kept on insisting that we board the bus and said that if the Lebanese did not want to board as well they are welcome to leave,” Udi Gal, the Israeli sailing team trainer, wrote in a Facebook post Friday.

“The bus driver opened the door, but this time the head of the Lebanese delegation blocked the aisle and entrance. The organizers wanted to avoid an international and physical incident and sent us away to a different bus.” So far, no official response on behalf of the delegations was given regarding the incident. The Olympic organizing committee has not yet offered any statement about the incident either, the report added.

By Amanda Bailly, for CNN