Members of the Lebanese Army march in Beirut on Nov. 22, 2019, on the occasion of Independence Day. (Credit: AFP/File)
BEIRUT — The European Council granted the Lebanese Army 6 million euros in aid Thursday, according to the council's statement reported by the state-run National News Agency.
"This aid can help improve the army's ability to adapt and consolidate national security and stability in Lebanon, by improving military medical facilities and providing necessary foodstuffs" to soldiers, the European Council said in a statement. "To this end, donations of healthcare equipment will be carried out to support military medical services," it added, recalling that last October Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib had requested such assistance.
The economic crisis in Lebanon — one of the worst in the world since the mid-1800s, according to the World Bank — has depleted the state budget, and thus that of the armed forces, and plunged most of the country into poverty.
Prior to the crisis, the average Lebanese soldier's salary was close to $800 per month. Currently a soldier's average salary amounts to less than $100 per month. The army regularly receives aid from foreign countries.