Acting army chief meets Russian, Italian delegations.

Byline: Daily Star Staff

Summary: Acting army commander General Shawqi Masri met Wednesday with Russian and Italian military delegations to discuss military cooperation and eventual delivery of Russian MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon. Masri met at Yarze in Baabda with a Russian delegation headed by the vice president of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Nikolay Syrtsov, who arrived Tuesday for a one-week visit.

BEIRUT: Acting army commander General Shawqi Masri met Wednesday with Russian and Italian military delegations to discuss military cooperation and eventual delivery of Russian MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon. Masri met at Yarze in Baabda with a Russian delegation headed by the vice president of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Nikolay Syrtsov, who arrived Tuesday for a one-week visit. Russia had decided in December 2008 to donate 10 of these jets to Lebanon as part of a military cooperation agreement. Separately, Masri received an Italian delegation that included retired generals Bruno Tosetti and Franco Angioni, and the military attache to Lebanon, Antonio Bettelli. Masri praised the efforts of the retired generals, who served in the multinational forces in Lebanon in 1982, and expressed his appreciation for the work of Italy's UNIFIL battalion. -- The Daily Star

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