On Aug. 20, 2017, Joseph Aoun prepares an operation against jihadists with his soldiers in Ras Baalbeck. (Credit: AFP archive photo)
The commander of the Lebanese army, General Joseph Aoun, left Lebanon on Friday for Italy, where he was invited to discuss "ways of supporting" the troops in the face of the current crisis and as daily clashes pit Hezbollah against the Israeli army.
According to the Lebanese army's X account, General Aoun was invited by the commander of the Italian army, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. The meeting in Rome on aid to the army will also be attended by the commanders of the Spanish, German, British and French armies.
The living and working conditions for Lebanese soldiers have deteriorated severely in recent years due to the economic crisis in Lebanon. To cope with this situation, many countries are supporting the troops with donations of fuel, food parcels or even cash payments for the soldiers.
At the end of January, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib called on the international community to help "reinforce" the army so that it could be deployed in southern Lebanon. "UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (which put an end to the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah) calls for the presence of a contingent of 15,000 men in the South. We have less than 5,000. We don't have the means to ensure this recruitment, even though demand is very high due to unemployment," he stated in an interview with L'Orient-Le Jour.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.