Lebanon Leader Says Russia Will Sell Arms: Reports

Lebanon Leader Says Russia Will Sell Arms: Reports (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - November 9, 2008: The leader of Lebanon's Western-backed parliamentary majority told a Russian news agency Sunday that Moscow is willing to sell it military hardware at "advantageous prices." Russia will "help the Lebanese army, which needs heavy weapons," Saad Hariri was initially quoted as saying by Vremia Novosti newspaper after a visit to Moscow. Hariri told Interfax news agency separately that current American military aid is "limited to light weaponry," stressing that the Lebanese army also needs "tanks and artillery equipment. "These needs will be addressed when the Lebanese defense minister visits Moscow this month or at the latest in December," he added. Shiite militant group Hezbollah's weaponry is an explosive issue that bitterly divides the country's political leaders, with Hariri's grouping insisting that the state should have sole authority in taking decisions on war and peace. The Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite group and its allies say that the militant group's weapons are necessary to protect Lebanon from Israeli aggression