The US has told Lebanese officials that Saudi Arabia is prepared to deploy hundreds of millions of dollars to reconstruct their war-torn country if Lebanese army commander Joseph Aoun is elected president, one senior Arab official and one former senior US official told Middle East Eye.

The carrot of an influx in Saudi cash was dangled by US envoy Amos Hochstein during his trip to Lebanon on Monday, where he lobbied intensely for Aoun, including with Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri.

“The Americans are dead set. They do not want any other candidate but Aoun,” the senior Arab official told MEE. “Hochstein has tied Aoun’s election to Saudi Arabia bankrolling Lebanon’s reconstruction.”