Articles compiled from Al Arabiya , AlJazeea, Naharnet and Gulfnews

The Lebanese president arrived in Saudi Arabia on
Monday for a two-day official visit. Aoun also said that internal wars
only end through political solutions and voiced the importance of
cooperation to combat terrorism. “We all need to cooperate to
fight terrorism. We need to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and with all
countries because terrorism is no longer limited to Middle Eastern
countries but it’s now across the entire world,” he told Al-Ekhbariya.

Addressing the Lebanese situation, Aoun said balances in Lebanon will
strengthen each day, noting however that Lebanon bears the burden of the
influx of Syrian refugees led to increasing the population during a
short period of time thus resulting in huge financial burdens.

On restoring a $3-billion military aid package that Riyadh froze last year, a Lebanese source told AFP on Tuesday: “The blockage is lifted,” said an official in the
delegation of President Michel Aoun, who held talks in the Saudi capital
with King Salman earlier in the day. “It’s finished. There is truly a change. But when and
how, we have to wait to see,” the official said, adding “a new page” had
been turned and the aid was “going to move.” The king’s son, the powerful Defense Minister and Deputy
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will discuss with his Lebanese
counterpart how to move forward with the package, said the official, who
asked for anonymity. However, other sources from the Lebanese delegation downplayed the official’s remarks. “The issue of the Saudi grant was discussed but no
decision has yet been taken to unblock the aid,” LBCI television quoted
the sources as saying.

Later on Tuesday, Lebanon’s National News Agency said
Aoun asked the king for “continued support for the army in the face of
terrorism and the other security challenges, including the issue of the
grant.” “The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin
Abdul Aziz, said he will follow up on the issue with the competent
ministers,” NNA added. “Aoun also invited King Salman to visit Lebanon and the
issue of Saudi flights will be addressed in a positive manner,” the
agency said. The president “considers that a new chapter of
Lebanese-Saudi ties has been launched and that the relations have
returned to normal,” NNA added, noting that Aoun “heard from King Salman
what confirms this.” Earlier during the day, Aoun met at his place of
residence in Riyadh, Saudi Minister of Commerce and Investment Majid bin
Abdullah bin Othman el-Qasabi who assured that Saudi nationals will
resume trips to Lebanon shortly, the state-run National News Agency
reported. After his meeting with the Lebanese President, el-Qasabi
said: “Saudi nationals are likely to resume trips to Lebanon, and I
will be at the forefront,” NNA said. Earlier, Aoun met with Saudi Culture Minister Adel Bin Zaid al-Tarifi.

Aoun
voiced hope that the crisis in Syria will be resolved peacefully and
politically because refugees will thus be allowed to return to Syria and
rebuild it. A statement issued by Aoun’s press office Monday said that
his Riyadh trip was at the invitation of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.
Among
the topics sources say we will be discussed is the normalization of
political and economic relations between the two countries, including
the lifting of a travel ban on Saudi citizens visiting the country.
Another issue to be discussed will be the restoration of Saudi
assistance to Lebanese military, which was halted in February last year. Aoun’s tour will then continue on his Gulf tour when he is scheduled to visit Qatar on Wednesday.

Ministerial meetings

Minister
of Culture and Information Adel bin Zaid Altoraifi met Lebanese
Minister of Information Melhem Riashy. During the meeting, they
discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and topics of
common interest. Also, Minister of
Commerce and Investment Dr. Majed bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi received at
King Saud palace here today the visiting Lebanese Minister of Economy
and Trade Raed Khoury. During the meeting,
they discussed investment opportunities between the two countries,
especially in the field of agriculture and the development of food
industry.

President Michel Aoun traveled Monday to Saudi Arabia on his first foreign trip since taking office, starting an Arab tour that will also take him to Qatar and Egypt. Aoun had received an official invitation to visit the kingdom from Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz He is accompanied by a large ministerial delegation comprising the ministers Jebran Bassil (foreign affairs), Marwan Hamadeh (education), Ali Hassan Khalil (finance), Yaaqoub al-Sarraf (defense), Nouhad al-Mashnouq (interior), Pierre Raffoul (presidency affairs), Melhem Riachi (information) and Raed Khoury (economy). Lebanon’s ambassador to the kingdom Abdul Sattar Issa will join the delegation upon its arrival.

Aoun’s visit to Riyadh on Monday – the first in a series of stops in neighbouring countries – is expected to focus on reviving tourism in Lebanon and restoring military cooperation between the two countries. The Saudi government suspended nearly $4bn in arms support to Lebanon last year, as well as issuing a travel advisory to its citizens against going to Lebanon. One of Lebanon’s most important financial sectors, tourism generated less than $4bn for the country last year, compared to $8.4bn in 2010 – with visitors from neighbouring Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, having dropped significantly. The Saudi government took the measures against Lebanon because it said the country had failed to condemn what it considered to be attacks on its diplomatic missions in Iran in January 2016. The protests in Tehran at the Saudi embassy followed the execution of 47 people, including the Shia Muslim leader, Nimr al-Nimr, in Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia subsequently cut off diplomatic ties with Iran, and cooled relations with Lebanon, where Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and social movement that is politically allied with Iran, enjoys significant influence.

Despite that, Hezbollah – with which Aoun is allied – has welcomed the president’s trip to Riyadh.  “Hezbollah has said that President Aoun should go to Saudi Arabia,” Louis Hobeika, a political analyst, said. “They understand perfectly – after all, Hezbollah people are Lebanese – and they know that if the Lebanese economy functions well, Hezbollah and the population of Hezbollah will benefit too … And in my view they are interested in that visit.” Aoun was elected president in October 2016 after the country’s top official political post was left vacant for more than two years.  The country was without a head of state for 29 months due to political infighting that prevented a quorum from forming in parliament. Following his trip to Saudi Arabia, Aoun is also expected to visit Qatar.

Aoun will then head to Doha on Wednesday to meet the invitation of Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Prior to departing Beirut, the president had presided over a meeting for the ministerial delegation accompanying him on his tour.

Earlier in the day, Aoun had met with a French parliamentary delegation. “We are looking forward to a political solution to the Syrian Crisis and to the return of the displaced Syrians to their country,” Aoun told the delegation. “There are safe areas in Syria at the moment and it is appropriate to launch efforts to return them home,” he added.

Information Minister Riachi has announced that the issue of the suspended Saudi grant to the Lebanese army will be on Aoun’s agenda during his visit to Riyadh. Saudi Arabia halted a $3 billion program of military aid to Lebanon in 2016 to protest what it said was “the stranglehold of Hizbullah on the state.” It also urged its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid travel to the country.

MP Alain Aoun of the Change and Reform bloc has stressed the keenness of President Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement on restoring normal ties with the Arab Gulf countries, noting that the president’s visit to Riyadh will achieve this goal. “President Michel Aoun’s trip to Saudi Arabia will launch a new chapter in the Lebanese-Saudi relations and will pave the way for a new phase between the two brotherly countries, and subsequently between Lebanon and the rest of the Gulf states,” Aoun told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

“This visit is important because it will return ties to their normal and historic state, which will happen gradually through ending the Saudi and Gulf boycott of Lebanon and halting all the negative measures against it, after the relations between Beirut and the Gulf states deteriorated in recent years due to the regional conflict,” MP Aoun added.

Lebanon