Oil-rich powerhouse Saudi Arabia announced huge aid packages Tuesday for Lebanon and the Palestinians, both reeling under devastating Israeli onslaughts, state media reported.
King Abdullah decided to grant Lebanon's central bank one billion dollars to shore up its currency and 500 million dollars in aid to help rebuild the country as Israeli bombardments continued, said a royal decree read on state television.
King Abdullah "instructed the depositing of one billion dollars in Lebanon's central bank to support the country's economy", it said.
The same decree also said that King Abdullah "has given instructions to give a grant of 500 million dollars to Lebanon to be a nucleus for an Arab fund to reconstruct Lebanon".
Aid amounting to 250 million dollars would also be given to the Palestinians to help rebuild the Palestinian territories, the decree added.
As with Lebanon, the money would also be used as "a nucleus for an Arab fund to help the Palestinians".
In Beirut, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora told reporters Riyadh will "deposit one billion dollars at the Central Bank of Lebanon to strengthen reserves in a bid to back the government's efforts to consolidate the stability of the national currency."
He confirmed the "grant of 500 million dollars to Lebanon to be a nucleus for an Arab fund to reconstruct Lebanon".
The Saudis also gave Lebanon 50 million dollars in emergency humanitarian aid for victims of Israeli attacks and the displaced people, he added.
In addition to help from private and public institutions, Saudi individuals have also made significant donations to Lebanon, Siniora said.
Saudi Arabia sits on a quarter of world proven oil reserves and posted a record budget surplus of 57 billion dollars in 2005 on the back of surging crude prices.
Lebanon has been under constant Israeli bombardment since July 12, when Shiite Hezbollah militiamen captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in cross-border attacks.
Much of the country's infrastructure has been targeted in Israeli air attacks, including the sole international airport in Beirut, ports, power stations, telecommunications, roads, bridges and buildings.
A total of 381 people have been killed since the offensive began. Almost all of them, 334 people, were civilians.
The Jewish state also launched an air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip exactly a month ago, after Palestinian militants - including the armed wing of the ruling Hamas-led government - captured an Israeli conscript in a dawn raid on June 25.
One hundred and 14 Palestinians have been killed in attacks the Israeli army said aim to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into Israel and to recover its missing soldier.
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