07/18/2025 | Press release | Archived content
On Friday 18 July 2025, the Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias concluded his visit to Lebanon with a series of political meetings with the country's leadership.
Mr. Dendias was received by the President and former Chief of the Armed Forces of Lebanon Joseph Aounat the Presidential Palace. The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Defence of Lebanon Michel Menassah, the General Secretary for Religious Affairs Giorgos Kalantzis, and the Ambassador of Greece to Lebanon Despina Koukoulopoulou.
Earlier, the Minister of National Defence held discussions with his Lebanese counterpart, with whom he discussed the further enhancement of bilateral defence cooperation and exchanged views on regional and international security matters. In addition, Mr. Dendias invited Mr. Menassah to visit Athens.
In the framework of his visit, the Greek Minister met with the Greek Orthodox Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Lebanon, Tarek Mitri, with whom he exchanged views regarding the protection of Christian populations.
Previously, Mr. Dendias had met with His Beatitude, the Patriarch of Antioch John X at the Patriarchal Seat in Balamand, Lebanon.
Upon concluding his visit, the Minister stated the following:
"A few moments ago my visit to Lebanon was concluded. First, I had the great pleasure to visit the Patriarch of Antioch John X at the Patriarchal Seat in Balamand, where, of course, we discussed extensively about the protection of Greek Orthodox communities in Syria and Lebanon, especially after the incident with the terrorist attack on the Holy Church of Prophet Elias, which resulted in numerous victims.
The Hellenic Government, and I think the entirety of the Greek people, are greatly interested in the situation, as well as the protection of Orthodox populations in the Middle East. In addition, we had the opportunity to discuss the operation of the University of Balamand and, in particular, the Faculty of Theology, given that, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, I had signed the reinitiation of the Faculty's programme in the Greek language, with all expenses covered by the Hellenic State.
In addition, I was received by President Aoun, Deputy Prime Minister Mitri, and Minister of Defence Menassah, while I also had the opportunity to talk on the Phone with the Minister of Culture of Lebanon, Ghassan Salamé.
The scope of all these meetings and discussions was the future and stability in Lebanon, as well as the protection of Greek Orthodox populations.
In this framework, the Ministry of National Defence of Greece has initiated a programme to reinforce the Armed Forces of Lebanon with materiel which is being retired within the framework of the "2030 Agenda".
The Hellenic Armed Forces are ready and will continue to support the Armed Forces of Lebanon. However, I would like to reiterate that our main reason, requirement, and goal for this is the protection of Greek Orthodox populations, which is the main goal of the Hellenic Government".