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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Trump administration is withholding $105 million in security aid to Lebanon
2019-11-25
[TWITTER]
Earlier this month, it was reported the Trump administration has frozen $105 million in security aid to Lebanon, including military vehicles, weapons and ammunition.

David Hale, the top career diplomat at the State Department, confirmed the freeze on Wednesday, saying there was apparently “a dispute over the efficacy of the assistance.”

The US State Department told Congress on October 31 that the White House budget office and National Security Council had decided to withhold the foreign military assistance, according to two US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity. The officials did not say why the aid was blocked.

The aid was frozen before massive demonstrations, protesting against economic hardship and corruption, began in Lebanon on October 17.

The Trump administration, which has not publicly explained its decision to withhold funding, has been pressing for the isolation of Lebanese Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran and has seats in the government.
Posted by:Fred

#7  PEACH MINT, PEACH MINT!!!!
Posted by: Fat Bob Javish1936   2019-11-25 21:05  

#6  So now the media thinks that any aid given in the past is just automatically supposed too continue. I wish these idiots would learn too report the news instead of being political asshats.
Posted by: chris   2019-11-25 09:37  

#5  QUID PRO QUO!!!

IM PEACH!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2019-11-25 06:00  

#4  #1 Trump has shown a tendency to shake up such arrangements, even sometimes seeking something in exchange for continuing them.

Kissinger on Trump last year: "Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretenses."
Posted by: Lex   2019-11-25 04:10  

#3  So Hezbollah will bravely fight Israel down to the last Lebanese ?
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-11-25 03:26  

#2  The conventional view of the state department and those supplying this now traditional support to the Lebanese army despite its control by Hezbollah, is that it should continue forever. This is apparently in the hope that this will serve some useful purpose.

Kickbacks?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2019-11-25 02:39  

#1  Hezbollah controls the Lebanese government and appears to control its army which we have been paying for through this 'security aid'.
There is now unrest in Lebanon; nobody really understands its cause.
One unstated possibility is that the Lebanese people are afraid that Hezbollah, which is controlled by Iran, will involve Lebanon in a war with Israel which will probably destroy much of the country, since Hezbollah has rockets everywhere in it aimed at Israel.
The conventional view of the state department and those supplying this now traditional support to the Lebanese army despite its control by Hezbollah, is that it should continue forever. This is apparently in the hope that this will serve some useful purpose. What that purpose is, is a bit obscure at this time.
Trump has shown a tendency to shake up such arrangements, even sometimes seeking something in exchange for continuing them.
Posted by: Daniel   2019-11-25 02:35  

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