U.S. Policy in Lebanon is Now Helping Hezbollah and Iran

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American policy in Lebanon is creating a dangerous situation that, in essence, is seeing U.S. dollars help and aid the likes of Hezbollah and Iran, a new report reveals.

Right now, America is deploying special forces to Lebanon to help the Lebanese Armed Forces, LAF, with ground training.

America’s foreign policy in Lebanon is causing a bit of a predicament.

But LAF missions typically partner with Hezbollah, Iran’s most valuable aid in terror.

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The Weekly Standard has the story:

The U.S. is deploying special forces on the ground in Lebanon to provide training for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) for missions that partner with Hezbollah—Iran’s most valuable terrorist ally—against ISIS. Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told the U.S.-based Al-Hurra Arabic TV network that American troops are there to provide assistance for the upcoming offensive against ISIS in the northeast border region in which the LAF will attack from from inside Lebanon while Hezbollah advances from Syria to the east.

Pursuing the twin Middle East objectives of destroying ISIS and pushing back against Iran was always a dicey proposition. Even with meticulous military and political planning, ensuring that one doesn’t gain strength at the expense of the other was bound to be a task fraught with difficulties. That’s what makes the decision to boost Iran and its proxies in order to finish off ISIS in Syria so confounding.

Military sources also told the London-based Arabic daily, Asharq al-Awsat, that the American presence is “to monitor the U.S. military aid delivered to the army,” a reference to the $1.4 billion in security assistance the U.S. has provided Lebanon since 2005, $80 million of which the LAF received last year in equipment and training.

Putting an exclamation point on the matter, on Monday the U.S. delivered eight M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles (the first of 32 total) and armored field artillery ammunition supply vehicles to the LAF. The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard, explained in a statement how the United States “has intensified its engagement and support to the Lebanese Army over the past few years,” and went on to provide an impressive list of weapons, munitions, and vehicles delivered in the past 12 months alone. “America’s support for Lebanon,” she concluded, “is based on the shared interests of the American people and the Lebanese people.”

The problem with the policy expansion in Lebanon is that the LAF today is simply another arm of Hezbollah, the terrorist group that runs Lebanon. Even Sunni politicians like Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who visited President Trump at the White House in July, are forced to play by the Shiite proxy’s rules. That means U.S. support for the LAF is helping Iran, which spawned Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982. That news should be concerning because until 9/11, Hezbollah held the distinction of being the terrorist group responsible for killing the most Americans.

The genesis of this backward U.S. policy has its roots in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which was passed in the wake of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. As Levant specialist, Tony Badran of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies explained, the resolution was later reinterpreted by the Obama administration during the negotiations to reach an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. That shift in focus remains the policy of the Trump administration today.

In the wake of the 2006 war, UNSCR 1701 was designed to disarm Hezbollah and prevent their resupply and illegal smuggling of weapons from Iran and Syria. It also called for the deployment of the LAF throughout Lebanon to assert its sovereignty. Back then, “the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory” referred to its independence from Syria, whose soldiers finally left Lebanon after a 30-year occupation a year earlier.

“The theory then was that Hezbollah had really taken it on the chin,” a senior White House official explained to me at the end of June. “General John Abizaid, the CENTCOM commander, really got this going because he thought now is the time to build up the Lebanese state so that it can be a counter-weight to Hezbollah’s power throughout the country and that over time, the LAF would eclipse Hezbollah as the main military power.”

“Well, that hasn’t happened,” he admitted with raised eyebrows and a shake of his head, “but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have done it. It means what we did we probably could have done better.”

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DOMINATION
DOMINATION
6 years ago

The Enemies Of Islam:
1. Truth
2. Freedom
3. Women’s Rights
4. Soap &
5. Bestiality Laws!!

famouswolf
famouswolf
6 years ago
Reply to  DOMINATION

The main enemy of islam:
LIFE

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago

The friend of Iran is still,,,, drum roll…. McMasters!
UNLOAD THIS GUY!

AlgorithmicAnalystD
AlgorithmicAnalyst
6 years ago

“we probably could have done better.”

Generally they make things worse.

Mahou Shoujo
Mahou Shoujo
6 years ago

The only money America should be putting into the middle east is bounty on muslim hides.

Pathfinder0100
Pathfinder0100
6 years ago
Reply to  Mahou Shoujo

Now I’ll drink to that!!

Mahou Shoujo
Mahou Shoujo
6 years ago
Reply to  Pathfinder0100

Ok, lets have a “pile driver” vodka and prune juice.

Pathfinder0100
Pathfinder0100
6 years ago
Reply to  Mahou Shoujo

Well, I was thinkin’ more like vodka and brake fluid! ;>)

Mahou Shoujo
Mahou Shoujo
6 years ago
Reply to  Pathfinder0100

Seems a bit harsher.

Pathfinder0100
Pathfinder0100
6 years ago
Reply to  Mahou Shoujo

Great chaser for the prune juice…

AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
6 years ago

Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian and Other terror groups are enjoying a very lax law enforcement policy in the U.S. of ignore,… until they do,…. and usually only AFTER DEATHS occur !!!

comment image

santashandler
santashandler
6 years ago

Who’s stupid idea was it to provide assistance to Hezbollah through Lebanon. WTF? Who’s at the controls. And U.S. ambassador, Elizabeth Richard, beamed when talking about all the goodies the LAF got from the U.S. Did she get a multi-million dollar kickback for that arms exchange, or is she sleeping with someone involved closely with that deal. Either way, she should be removed from her post immediately. Where’s Trump on this. Is there no oversight on any U.S. gov activities anymore.

Michael Jacobs
Michael Jacobs
6 years ago
Reply to  santashandler

“Where’s Trump on this”? HE MET recently with the Prime Minister of Lebanon and Trump naively bought the lie that the Lebanese government was an ally to the US in the war on Islamic terror, hook, line, and sinker. Sure, Lebanon is helping fight ISIS in Syria — because Hezbollah and ISIS are mortal enemies. But it makes no sense to pay one terrorist — and give him arms — so he can kill opposing terrorists, when BOTH hate the US and BOTH hate Israel. Trump’s fingerprints are ALL OVER this, not just jihadist-loving underlings.

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/242269/lebanese-pm-joins-with-hezbollah-to-con-trump?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=5ff7f0a250-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-5ff7f0a250-207075045

BeverlyD
Beverly
6 years ago

How many of our ambassadors and military personnel have been turned to Islam while serving in the mid-east?

Mahou Shoujo
Mahou Shoujo
6 years ago
Reply to  Beverly

Depend’s on the price of loyalty, under o’bimbo, islam got cheap american diplomats, the price has gone up recently, but the market is still thriving.

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Thanks for sharing!