U.S. delivers arms to fight 'same enemy'
The United States delivered more than $25 million worth of military aid including heavy artillery to the Lebanese army on Sunday to help it fight jihadist groups which have repeatedly battled with security forces near the Syrian border.
The United States delivered more than $25 million worth of military aid including heavy artillery to the Lebanese army on Sunday to help it fight jihadist groups which have repeatedly battled with security forces near the Syrian border.
The U.S. ambassador to Beirut, David Hale, said in a statement the
weapons would be used to "defeat the terrorist and extremist threat from
Syria".
"We are fighting the same enemy, so our support for you has been swift
and continuous," Hale said at an event marking the delivery of the
weapons in Beirut.
The Lebanese army has fought regular battles with armed groups
including militants linked to Islamic State and the al Qaeda-affiliated
Nusra Front in areas near the Syrian border, most recently late last
month when six soldiers were killed.
Hale said Lebanon was the fifth biggest recipient of U.S. military aid.
It received more than $100 million last year. Lebanese officials have
warned of plans by radical Islamist groups fighting in the Syria war to
seize territory in Lebanon.
While the U.S.-backed Lebanese army has been battling hard-line
Islamists on the Lebanese side of the frontier, the Iranian-backed
Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah has been fighting the same groups on
the Syrian side of the border -- part of its role fighting alongside
Damascus in the Syrian war.
The Lebanese army, rebuilt after the country's 1975-90 civil war, is
one of the strongest institutions in the country, but it has been
hamstrung by outdated weapons.
France and Lebanon signed a $3 billion Saudi-funded deal in early
November to provide French weapons and military equipment, including
helicopters, to the Lebanese army.
A Lebanese government statement said French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius told Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam on the sidelines of a
Munich security conference they would get the first batch of weapons
under the deal in April.
The United States has accelerated the delivery of military aid to
Lebanon since last August, when Islamist militants staged a major attack
in the border town of Arsal, said Nabil Haitham, a columnist in the
Lebanese newspaper As-Safir.
"Despite the importance of these weapons, they cannot make up for the
big shortfall from which the army is suffering," he told Reuters, adding
that helicopters were vital.
U.S. delivers arms to fight 'same enemy'
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Oleh
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