Syria War Spurs US Military Aid To Lebanon
The Obama administration intends to continue aid to the Lebanese army to help prevent the spread of sectarian fighting from Syria and to counter the influence of Hezbollah.
With so much uncertainty in the Levant, the Obama administration is continuing a program of aid and training to the Lebanese army.
The United States considers the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) as a wise investment that can preserve American influence and perhaps help Lebanon to prevent the Syrian civil war from spreading into a country that experienced its own prolonged sectarian conflict from 1975-89.
“The LAF can be a model of what can work,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Matthew Spence told a Washington audience Wednesday [Feb. 20].
While U.S. support for the LAF is comparatively modest — $75 million a year — it provides training as well as weapons and is an important element to “underscore the US partnership” with Lebanon, Spence said.
