How America continues to help Hezbollah pursue its deadly machinations on the border - by Shoshana Bryen

...in the 12 years since the 2006 war, UNIFIL and the LAF have failed to establish or defend Lebanese sovereignty separate from Hezbollah. The United States pays for the fiction that the Hezbollah government in Beirut will order the Lebanese Armed Forces to fight the Hezbollah army in the south. That the Lebanese right hand will chop off the Lebanese left hand.

Shoshana Bryen..
Jewish Policy Center..
11 December '18..
Link: https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2018/12/11/how-america-helps-hezbollah/

The terror organization Hezbollah has built tunnels from Lebanese territory into northern Israel; the intention was infiltration. It turns out, however, that Israel Defense Forces’ intelligence had been tracking them and last week entered southern Lebanon to destroy them. (You can watch the IDF video of a Hezbollah member actually finding the camera in a tunnel before it blows up.) The Israeli operation—“Operation Northern Shield”—will likely not cause a major cross-border war because Iranian is not prepared to lose the assets it put there to the Israel Air Force.

What appears less understood is how the United States—by its financial and training support of the government of Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)—is providing resources that allow Hezbollah to pursue its deadly machinations on the border.

Not deliberately, of course, and not directly. The Trump administration strongly supported Israel’s decision to strike Hezbollah. Even the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a press briefing, “We do not question Israel’s right to ensure its national security, including by preventing anyone from entering the country.”

Where this become hazy is when both the United States and Russia—and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council—try to make a distinction between Hezbollah the terror organization and Hezbollah the government of Lebanon. The Russian spokesperson said, “We hope that no actions taken … will be in conflict with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701,” and Moscow hopes the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) would “fulfill its monitoring mission and will not allow any violations.” That last bit was public window-dressing. Every inch of southern Lebanon is a well-known violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701’s 2006 demand that UNIFIL ensure:

Hizballah cements control over Lebanon

Fresnozionism.org
14 June '11

http://fresnozionism.org/2011/06/hizballah-cements-control-over-lebanon/

In January of this year, Hizballah and its allies brought down the coalition of Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri. A new PM, Najib Mikati, was designated, but he had not been able to put together a coalition until yesterday.

The new Lebanese cabinet of 30 ministers includes 18 members of the Hizballah-led “March 8 Alliance,” (the name refers to an anti-Western demonstration held in 2005). That’s a majority, folks, and it includes the justice and defense ministries.

This means that Iranian-Syrian proxy Hizballah has even more power over Lebanon than before.

Is it time for the US to stop sending aid, particularly military aid, to Lebanon?

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in response that Washington should cut off the funding for Lebanon.


Hezbollah led the toppling of the government of Saad Hariri while the former prime minister was on a visit to Washington in January. The group was upset with Hariri’s support for a U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister’s father.


Hezbollah had two Cabinet positions in the Hariri government [there still are only two ministers who are members of the party, but their 'alliance' partners have grown from 11 to 18]. U.S. lawmakers last year mulled withholding the roughly $100 million in military aid to Lebanon because of Hezbollah concerns but reversed course after classified briefings indicated the Lebanese military was able to handle the assistance responsibly. — UPI

Here’s an example of the way the Lebanese Army has acted “responsibly:”

On August 3rd, 2010, Lebanese Army snipers shot and killed an Israeli officer who was directing a routine tree-clearing operation on the Israeli side of the border. Another officer was seriously wounded.

There is no doubt that this was a deliberate provocation by Hizballah to divert attention from the indictments that were shortly expected (they are still ‘expected’) of the UN Special Tribunal looking into the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

In the next war, Hizballah rockets from Lebanon will kill Israelis. There’s no doubt about this either.

Now it is even more important that the US stop supporting the Lebanese Army, which — far from checking Hizballah in accordance with UN resolution 1701 — acts on its behalf.

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Targeting the Whole of the Lebanese State – Where Will the U.S. Stand in Next War Against Hezbollah?

Should Israel be forced into war with forces to its north, where will Washington stand?

Jim Colbert
JINSA/The Sentry
06 January '11

The recent French decision to supply helicopter-borne anti-tank missiles to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) took on a level of importance far greater than it would have even just a year ago as an increasing number of Israeli military thinkers no longer see a meaningful distinction between it and Hezbollah.

Since the July-August 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah’s military forces have operated with impunity in southern Lebanon, rebuilding their bunkers and fighting positions and replenishing their arsenal. The LAF’s unprovoked cross-border attack on an IDF patrol this past August confirmed for many Israelis that the line between the two largest militaries in Lebanon is blurred as well.

In turn, Israeli thinking about how to deal with Hezbollah, a full participant in the civilian Lebanese government, has evolved. As a result, it is likely that the next round of fighting between the two countries will see the Lebanon’s government and civilian infrastructure targeted by Jerusalem.

In the 2006 war, Israeli tanks were subjected to dozens of Hezbollah attacks with the latest Russian-made anti-armor missiles. How much more potent will the threat be when the French missiles and launchers are mounted on the LAF’s helicopter fleet?

(Read full "Targeting the Whole of the Lebanese State – Where Will the U.S. Stand in Next War Against Hezbollah?")

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US finishes review, but holds on LAF funds remain

Matt Nash
Now Lebanon
19 September '10

The Obama administration completed an inter-agency review of funding for the Lebanese Armed Forces launched last month after several members of Congress expressed fear of collusion between the LAF and Hezbollah, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J. Crowley announced Thursday during a press briefing in Washington.

Crowley, who has consistently defended US funding for the LAF since a deadly border clash between Lebanon’s army and the Israel Defense Forces on August 3, would not reveal details of the review’s findings, but said, “We are in the process of consultations with members of Congress regarding our findings. We’ll have more to say with that when the consultations are done.”

Two holds on $100 million in funding for the LAF approved in the 2010 US budget, however, are still in place. Matt Denis, a spokesman for Representative Nita Lowy – who heads a subcommittee on the House Committee on Appropriations and who placed one of the holds – told the Associated Press Thursday that Lowy “appreciates the administration’s efforts to keep appraised of findings, and the conversations will continue about the path forward, [however] no resolution on this matter was reached. Her hold remains in place.”

Also Thursday, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported that Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Howard Berman lifted his hold, placed the day before the August firefight. There is no news of lifting the hold on either Berman’s or the committee’s websites, and a source on Capitol Hill familiar with the issue, who spoke anonymously because he is not authorized to talk to the press, told NOW Lebanon via email that the Al-Rai report is “not true.”

(Read full article)

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Iran as the Elephant

JINSA Report
#: 1,018
01 September '10

President Obama's speech on the end of combat operations in Iraq was a strange muddle of domestic policy, blaming our recession on borrowing for the war (although according to the Congressional Budget Office, seven years of the Iraq war cost less than one year of the Obama Administration's stimulus package) and equating the end of combat operations with providing the resources to turn our attention to economic recovery (as if we couldn't attend to the economy until we "finished" the war, which isn't finished in any event).

But the real wonder is how it was possible for the President of the United States to give a whole speech about Iraq without mentioning Iran. While the United States is "turning the page" and leaving Iraq to the Iraqis, the Iranians are heavily invested in the violence that continues to plague the country. While the President lauds the Iraqis for their courage and their choice to engage in politics (well deserved praise), the shooting war continues, funded and abetted by Iran. President Obama acknowledged:

Of course, violence will not end with our combat mission. Extremists will continue to set off bombs, attack Iraqi civilians and try to spark sectarian strife. But ultimately, these terrorists will fail to achieve their goals. Iraqis are a proud people. They have rejected sectarian war, and they have no interest in endless destruction. They understand that, in the end, only Iraqis can resolve their differences and police their streets. Only Iraqis can build a democracy within their borders.

The Iraqis might have no interest in "endless destruction," but Iran has no interest in an independent, democratic, pro-Western Iraq. The Iraqis may be able to "resolve their differences and police their streets," but with Iran continuing to fund unreconciled militias, what hope has the Iraqi police/military of getting ahead of the mullahs? "Only Iraqis can build a democracy," but can they build it under military attack from their neighbor Iran?

The President referred to "extremists," but those extremists have a patron. Iran. And if Iran is the elephant in Iraq, it is the elephant in Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and surrounding Israel as well.

(Read full report)

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Lebanon's Hezbollah Threat

Mark Silverberg
Hudson New York
26 August '10

Posted before Shabbat

It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine where Hezbollah control of Lebanon ends and where Lebanese government control begins. The terrorist organization now dictates Iranian decrees to Lebanese officials and institutions, manipulates their activities, and greatly influences the country's decision-making processes through infiltration, intimidation, and terrorism. No decision can be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions -- including its military forces -- without Hezbollah's approval.

The U.S. had hoped that bolstering the capabilities of the Lebanese Armes Forces [LAF] would lead to tightened Lebanese control of its border with Syria to prevent arms smuggling; stabilize the region; improve the LAF's counter-terrorism capabilities in dealing with Hezbollah; and generally strengthen the Lebanese state at Hezbollah's expense. But it ignored the fact that the members and commanders of the LAF share the terrorists' dedication to Israel's destruction. Caroline Glick reminds us that "during the 2006 war, the LAF provided Hezbollah commanders with targeting data for their missiles and rockets……..and announced on its official Web site that it would award pensions to families of Hezbollah fighters killed in the war."

Hezbollah's influence has gradually seeped into state institutions, especially the Lebanese army. The LAF's profound weaknesses -- and the level of penetration by Hezbollah -- is one of the main reasons why the LAF seeks to avoid a confrontation. There is a very real danger that, in such an eventuality, the LAF's Shiite contingent (numbering approximately a third of the Lebanese army) would desert and join the Hizbollah terrorist group, leading to another Lebanese civil war.

(Read full article)

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HOW Not TO Finance An Army

Ghassan Karam
YaLibnan
14 August '10

After the incident that took place on August 3, 2010 between a small force of the Lebanese Army and the Israeli Defense Force at Adeisseh in Southern Lebanon Mr. Suleiman, the Lebanese President has been on a mission to finance the Lebanese army through personal contributions. These misguided efforts, although emotionally appealing, have been endorsed enthusiastically by many in Lebanon including Elias Murr, the Defense Minister, who declared yesterday, with pride, the opening of a special account at the Bank of Lebanon to receive such donations. The initial deposit was a miserly $650,000 that was raised over two weeks.

The above described incident has lead some members of the US congress and also some in the French parliament to request that the already approved military aid to Lebanon be suspended pending an accounting of the Adeisseh clash during which 2 Lebanese army personnel have died and one reporter from Al Akhbar newspaper in addition to the wounding of a reporter for Al Manar TV station. One Israeli Colonel was also shot dead apparently by a Lebanese army sniper. A transparent and thorough accounting of what led to this unfortunate incident has not yet been made public by the Lebanese army. What were the rules of engagement? Who issued the order to fire? Did UNIFIL inform the Lebanese army that the Israelis will be pruning a tree on their side of the border? How did the media know about the probability of friction at this particular point and at this specific time? A responsible and accountable democratic system of governance deserves to know precisely what happened especially since this incident could have ignited a very costly war indeed.

(Read full article)

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Lebanon's Hezbollah Dilemma

Mark Silverberg
Hudson New York
13 August '10
Posted before Shabbat

With each passing day, it is becoming increasing difficult to determine where Hezbollah's control of Lebanon ends and where the Lebanese government's control begins. The terrorist organization now dictates Iranian decrees to Lebanese officials and institutions; manipulates their activities; and greatly influences the country's decision-making processes through infiltration, intimidation, and terrorism. No decision can be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions including its military forces without Hezbollah's approval.

The deadly clash in early August along the Lebanon-Israel border that left a senior IDF officer dead and another seriously wounded highlighted the problem, and has raised questions about future U.S. government funding of advanced weaponry and equipment for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) -- a policy which, until now, has represented the cornerstone of U.S. efforts to stabilize Lebanon. Evidence indicates that the LAF sniper (a Shiite) was closely associated with Hezbollah (a Shiite terrorist organization); and many in Congress fear that such associations between the LAF and Hezbollah go far deeper than meets the eye.

Hezbollah's influence has gradually seeped into state institutions, especially the Lebanese army. The LAF's profound weaknesses, and the level of penetration by Hezbollah, is one of the main reasons why the LAF seeks to avoid a confrontation. There is a very real danger that, in such an eventuality, the LAF's Shiite contingent (numbering approximately a third of the Lebanese army) would desert and join the terrorist group, leading to another Lebanese civil war.

Of concern to members of Congress is the knowledge that the LAF not only provides Hezbollah with intelligence information gathered through the use of U.S. and French high-tech signals equipment (as noted below), but that it has high-ranking LAF officers closely associated with Hezbollah.

(Read full article)

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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.

(Read full report)

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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.

(Read full post)

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No U.S. Cash for Hezbollah’s Lebanese Army Allies

Jonathan Tobin
Contentions/Commentary
09 August '10

Last week, the Lebanese Army, apparently acting in concert with Hezbollah terrorists, launched a sneak attack on Israeli soldiers who were clearing away a tree on their own side of the border. One Israeli officer was killed in cold blood, and another was wounded. Israel’s response to this provocation was restrained; it merely returned fire on the Lebanese Army, killing two soldiers and one Hezbollah-affiliated “journalist” who had come to the border specifically to observe the hit on the Israelis. But while even the anti-Israel United Nations peacekeeping force Unifil agreed that the Lebanese fired first and attacked Israelis on Israeli soil, the international community had little to say about this incident. Western nations including the United States are worried that speaking up about this will undermine the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Syrian agents murdered Hariri’s father in 2005, and protests against this act led to the Cedar Revolution, in which the Syrians were chucked out of the country. But since that signal victory for the West, the Syrians and their Hezbollah allies have won back control over the country. Hariri is now forced to accept a role that his father rejected: a vassal of Damascus and an ally of Hezbollah, which now has a place in his cabinet. As last week’s incident proved, the Lebanese Army, once thought to be the lever by which the country could be pried from the grip of Syria, is now in cahoots with Hezbollah. Yet it is still in line to be the recipient of U.S. aid, approved in the days when Lebanon and its army were thought to be allies of the West against Islamist terrorism.

The State Department says it is still trying to investigate the incident and whether or not it is true that the Lebanese used weapons sent by the United States to shoot at Israel. But at least some members of Congress are paying attention.

(Read full post)

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Israel’s American-made foes

Caroline Glick
Column One/JPost
06 August '10

It wasn’t a US Army sniper who killed IDF Lt.- Col. Dov Harari and seriously wounded Capt. Ezra Lakia on Tuesday. But the Lebanese Armed Forces sniper who shot them owes a great deal to the generous support the LAF has received from America.

For the past five years, the LAF has been the second largest recipient of US military assistance per capita after Israel. A State Department press release from late 2008 noted that between 2006 and 2008, the LAF received 10 million rounds of ammunition, Humvees, spare parts for attack helicopters, vehicles for its Internal Security Forces “and the same frontline weapons that US military troops are currently using, including assault rifles, automatic grenade launchers, advanced sniper systems, anti-tank weapons and the most modern urban warfare bunker weapons.”

Since 2006, the US has provided Lebanon some $500 million in military assistance. And there is no end in sight. After President Barack Obama’s meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in June, the White House proclaimed Obama’s “determination to continue US efforts to support and strengthen Lebanese institutions such as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces.”

And indeed, in late June, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates informed Congress that the Pentagon intends to provide the LAF with 24 120mm mortars, 24 M2 .50 caliber machine guns, 1 million rounds of ammunition, and 24 humvees and trailers. The latest orders should be delivered by the end of 2011.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the administration has already allocated $100m. in military assistance to Lebanon for 2011.

(Read full article)

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