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U.S. Official Says 'No Aid Package' to Save Lebanon from Its 'Financial Mess'

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said Wednesday that attendees at a Paris meeting on supporting Lebanon had agreed to give technical advice to Lebanese institutions but they won't provide the bailout that caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri had requested.

Hariri had called on Saudi Arabia, France, Turkey, the United States, China, and Egypt to send funds to help Lebanon finance imports.

"There's no aid package, there is no bailout," Schenker told The Associated Press. "Lebanon is not being saved from its financial mess."

Schenker said the group is considering sending some humanitarian aid to Lebanon to alleviate residents' suffering, though it was unclear when or how much.

Schenker also insisted the U.S. is not laying out conditions for which groups can be included in the new government.

"We have stuck until now with focusing on a set of principles, which is not who is the prime minister, not who is the minister of finance, not what party they're from, not what religion they're from -- but whether they are capable of reform," he told AP.

Source: Associated Press


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