¤Saudi Arabia halts the $3 billion grant to the army

On 19 February 2016 Saudi Arabia halted the three-billion-dollar grant to arm the Lebanese army with French weapons and a billion for the security services, in protest at "Lebanon's positions" and its refusal to condemn the attack on its embassy in Tehran; travel warnings and the expulsion of Lebanese from the Gulf followed.

Note: Economic pressure on a state to punish internal statements or positions, and imposing a prime minister's resignation from a foreign capital, infringe the principle of non-intervention and the state's right to manage its own political affairs. The cost to Lebanon is that it makes its government decisions hostage to the approval of donors and foreign markets, and weakens the government's standing before its citizens.