Reappraising alliances and priorities, Riyadh cuts adrift long-standing Lebanese allies

The Saudi leadership’s announcement that it was ending $3bn financial support for Lebanon to buy French arms under a controversial deal struck in 2013 and signed in November 2014, together with a further $1bn to support Lebanon’s security services, has brought to a head a long period of deteriorating relations between Riyadh and its Sunni allies in Beirut. King Salman Bin Abdelaziz has previously told Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam the French arms deal – lobbied for by President François Hollande – was “on track” and “irreversible”, but for several months it has been increasingly apparent the three-way Don Arabie Saoudite (Donas – Saudi Arabia Gift) was going nowhere.