EU pledges 60 million euros in aid for Lebanon military

By AFP 21 January 2025, 2:44 pm

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Lebanese army soldiers sit on their parked tanks along a road in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqoura, on the border with Israel on January 7, 2025, after Israel's withdrawal from the area as part of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries. (AFP)

The European Union announces a 60 million euro ($62 million) support package for Lebanon’s armed forces, as the crisis-hit country seeks to implement a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says the aid came “at a critical juncture for the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel.”

The Lebanese armed forces “are essential to regional and domestic stability, and deserve all our support in performing their critical mission,” she says.

Under the ceasefire deal Israel must withdraw from the south of the country by January 26, with the Lebanese military then set to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers.

At the same time, Hezbollah is required to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south and pull its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border.

The EU aid is the latest from the West aimed at bolstering Lebanon’s military, with the US last week saying it would donate more than $117 million in security assistance.