The Saudi decision to give $3 billion in aid to the Lebanese army to purchase French weapons and ammunition came as a surprise to both supporters and opponents of the move. The amount is the highest ever to the army, but the most alluring aspect of the initiative is not limited to the allocated sum. In fact, rarely has the Lebanese state received any donations. Rather, the bigger surprise is the emerging Saudi-French partnership, which constitutes a turning point in the Middle East. With the shrinking US role in the area, a void has opened that regional forces and terrorist organizations from everywhere are rushing to fill.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman announced the aid in a message addressed to the Lebanese people. This presentation indicated that the three parties had coordinated the matter and that the foundations of an international security network are being laid to protect this small country tottering on the edge of an abyss.
On the one hand, the ghost of sectarian strife has spilled over from Syria, lurking on the horizon and occasionally bursting onto Lebanon’s streets and cities. On the other hand, a constitutional vacuum is threatening the entirety of the Lebanese Republic — its institutions and the state as well — if continuity in power is not achieved when Suleiman's term ends in May 2014. Najib Mikati’s resigned government has lost all the components of legitimacy its authority was once based on. It is no longer possible to form a government that includes all Lebanese parties, because the country's constitutional institutions have become dysfunctional. With each passing day, the rift grows wider.
The president has only one option, which is to form a government, but he already knows that it will not be approved by all parties. Hezbollah will definitely object and has already begun issuing threats. Such a decision needs international support, and the Saudi-French initiative might be the first step in that direction. Supplying the army with aid and the president’s declaration of this assistance symbolize support for Lebanon's legitimacy, which is being threatened by the void.
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