BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Analysts are warning that a proposed U.S. congressional block on $100 million of military aid to Lebanon could ultimately assist Hezbollah.
The issue erupted after a border incident Aug. 3, The Daily Star reported Thursday.
The clash in Adaysseh occurred on the Lebanese-Israeli border, where Israelis removing a tree provoked an exchange of gunfire that killed two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and an Israeli officer.
Some U.S. lawmakers subsequently expressed concerns that the proposed $100 million in military aid to Lebanon could result in U.S. weapons ultimately being used by the Lebanese military against Israel, the closest U.S. regional ally.
The United States currently gives Israel $3 billion a year in direct and military aid.
According to retired Lebanese Gen. Elias Hanna, who teaches political science at Lebanese universities, the United States had previously supported aid to the Lebanese military as being of direct benefit to Israel, as by strengthening the Lebanese such aid would undercut Israel's opponent Hezbollah, while a stronger Lebanese military could help pacify the Israeli-Lebanese border.
The issue isn't solely bilateral. After the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon was reinforced to approximately 13,000 peacekeepers, while the Lebanese military deployed in southern Lebanon for the first time in decades.
According to Hanna, since the Syrian military departed Lebanon in 2005 and despite $700 million in U.S. aid to the Lebanese, the Lebanese military doesn't represent a significant threat to Israel's military.
Observing a congressional threat to eliminate U.S. assistance to the Lebanese military Carnegie Middle East Center head Paul Salem said: "For them, that is a very simple argument that you should punish Hezbollah by punishing the army. It's not a complex argument. The U.S. administration is clear that it wants to maintain the aid; the problem is in Congress.This is going to have an impact and a negative impact. I expect there will be cutting -- the question is how much."
Salem said Congress will succeed in eventually eliminating American funding for the Lebanese military despite U.S. President Barack Obama's administration urging that the full $100 million aid be deployed as part of a broader regional U.S. Middle East strategy.
Salem said a toxic mix of the U.S. midterm elections in November, the ongoing U.S. fiscal effects of the recession, public opinion would ally to rampant pro-Israeli feeling on Capitol Hill to defeat the proposed U.S. military assistance to Lebanon.
