Withholding Funds From the Lebanese Armed Forces

JINSA
Report #: 1,013
10 August '10

Yesterday, in the wake of the killing of an IDF officer inside Israel by Lebanese Armed Forces personnel, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) announced that Congress would block the disbursement of $100 million in U.S. military aid to Lebanon. Lowey chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee that authorizes such funds. Similarly, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) applied a hold with concerns about "reported Hezbollah influence on the Lebanese Armed Forces."

According to The Jerusalem Post, "Berman entered his hold the day before the deadly incident, which he said only confirmed his reservations. His office also wants more information on Hezbollah's role in the LAF, how diligently U.S. weapons are kept track of and how well the LAF cooperates with UNIFIL. 'Until we know more about this incident and the nature of Hezbollah influence on the LAF - and can assure that the LAF is a responsible actor - I cannot in good conscience allow the United States to continue sending weapons to Lebanon,' Berman said."

The hold may, in the end, only be temporary. But we'll give credit where it is due.

For more than a year, JINSA has worried about the influence of Hezbollah on the Lebanese government, where it holds a "blocking third" in the Cabinet (see JINSA Report #892, "Don't Worry if Hezbollah Wins..."). While the U.S. government and UNIFIL have insisted that a bigger and more competent LAF would be expected to "secure the borders of Lebanon" and enforce UNSCR 1701 - which calls for all of the militias in the south to be disarmed - we have never believed that Lebanese soldiers could be induced to kill other Lebanese in the interest of keeping the Israeli residents of the North safe.

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RE: Western Inaction on Lebanon

Evelyn Gordon
Contentions/Commentary
09 August '10

Kudos to Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) — who, as Jonathan noted, used her post as head of the House appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid today to put a hold on $100 million in American assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces, which was approved for 2010 but not yet disbursed — and to House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), who had applied a hold on the aid even before last Tuesday’s deadly border incident, out of concern about reported Hezbollah influence on the LAF. It’s encouraging that Congress recognizes the dangers, which I had outlined here earlier, of not responding to Lebanon’s naked aggression against Israel last week.

Nevertheless, it’s worrying that the administration clearly doesn’t share this understanding. The 2009 aid that remained in the pipeline is still being handed over as scheduled, because, a State Department official told the Jerusalem Post, the U.S. is still trying to determine the facts of the incident.

Yet on Wednesday, a day after the incident occurred, UNIFIL — an organization not known for its pro-Israel bias — had already confirmed that the Lebanese soldiers fired first, without provocation, and that no Israeli soldiers had strayed into Lebanese territory, contrary to Lebanon’s claim.

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