Lebanon is pushing back against US pressure on Hezbollah for fear that efforts from the Donald Trump administration and Congress could destabilize the fragile state.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) face the prospect of losing all military assistance under the State Department's fiscal year 2018 budget request, while Congress is taking new action to expand sanctions on Hezbollah. The cuts to the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program would hit the country particularly hard, as the LAF, with the help of Hezbollah, is securing the war-torn Syrian border from the Islamic State (IS), al-Qaeda and other militants.
