Saturday, September 04, 2010

'US to continue supplying military assistance to Lebanon'


JPOST.COM STAFF
09/04/2010

Report says an estimated $100m. worth of equipment and weaponry has been approved, after funds were frozen by US in the wake of fatal border clashes with Israel.

The US will continue to supply the Lebanese Armed Forces with equipment and weapons estimated to be worth approximately $100 million, a Lebanese newspaper reported on Saturday.

Al-Nahar quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Washington had urged both Israel and Lebanon to continue showing restraint towards each other and to refrain from threats and other provocative behavior. Last month, the US briefly halted the supply of military aid to the LAF following violent border clashes with the IDF, which left an Israeli soldier and four Lebanese dead .


The US State Department has reportedly been working to allay the concerns of members of Congress who put a hold on the funding.

“This incident was tragic and entirely avoidable,” Rep. Nita Lowey (D-New York) said following the incident on August 3rd . “US assistance is intended to enhance our safety and that of our allies.”

Lowey chairs the House appropriations subcommittee that authorizes such funds.

Similarly, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman (D-California) also applied a hold, citing more general concerns about “reported Hizbullah influence on the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has previously defended US military assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces as something that’s “in [the US's] national interest and contributes to stability in the region.”

Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report.

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