US weapons pour into Lebanon amid turmoil
The Pentagon is sending armed helicopters to help Lebanon fend off terrorists despite budgetary and political uncertainty.
The Donald Trump administration is pouring new weapons into Lebanon despite US budgetary uncertainty and political turmoil in Beirut.
Robert Karem, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, informed Congress in October that the Pentagon plans to supply the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) with six US-origin MD-530G light attack helicopters. The proposal, which also includes communications equipment such as radios, satellite navigation and transponder beacons, is estimated at $110 million, according to congressional correspondence reviewed by Al-Monitor.
The arms package aims to give Lebanese troops an edge against Islamic State (IS) fighters and other militants massing in the country’s northeastern border region. It is provided through a train-and-equip fund used to build up foreign militaries that has allowed the United States to continue to arm its Middle East partners even as the Trump administration seeks to curtail foreign military support traditionally handled by the State Department.
“It’s reassuring to see that the calculus hasn’t changed,” Alia Awadallah, a Middle East researcher at the Center for American Progress, told Al-Monitor. The new equipment, she said, “will go a long way toward improving [Lebanon’s] ability to tackle terrorist threats.”
