Lebanon’s army chief on official visit

Lebanon`s armed forces chief Joseph Aoun is paying an official visit to Cyprus accompanied by a three-member delegation at the invitation of the National Guard chief, Lieutenant General Demokritos Zervakis.

According to a press release issued by Cyprus National Guard, Aoun will visit on Thursday the Search and Rescue Coordinating Centre and the Andreas Papandreou air force base where he will have the opportunity to be briefed about their mission and operation.

Aoun was officially welcomed on Wednesday during a ceremony at the National Guard general staff headquarters. He then had private meetings with Defence Minister, Charalambos Petrides, and the National Guard chief. He was also briefed about the mission and the operational capabilities of the National Guard. The two chiefs signed the bilateral defence cooperation programme for 2021-2022.

During their private meeting they discussed current developments in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as issues related to security and stability in the broader region. They also discussed various aspects of the bilateral defence cooperation programme and ways to upgrade it.

Aoun thanked the National Guard chief for the help provided to the people of Lebanon after the blast in Beirut last August, while on his part Zervakis thanked Aoun for Lebanon`s readiness to contribute aircraft to help with extinguishing last month’s fire in the Limassol and Larnaca districts.