The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an article written by Amir Tibon in which he cited the confusion which has stormed the US administration over the issue of whether it should be withholding the $105 million of military funding to Lebanon.
“The Trump administration is sending mixed signals on the issue of U.S. security assistance to Lebanon. In recent days, senior officials within the administration confirmed that $105 million of aid to Lebanon has been put on hold by the White House. Earlier this month, however, the State Department’s assistant secretary for Near East Affairs said during a visit to ‘Israel’ that the aid to Lebanon was not being withheld, and rejected Israeli requests to block it.”
The article mentioned that in Washington, the administration is facing pressure from two directions on the Lebanese aid issue.
“On the one hand, lawmakers are promoting legislation that would limit aid to Lebanon unless the LAF can prove that it is taking concrete steps to distance itself from Hezbollah… On the other hand, senior Democratic lawmakers are pushing the administration to explain why it is currently withholding $105 million of aid that was supposed to go to Lebanon.”
Tibon pointed out that for the Pentagon, the concern is that the withholding of the funds could contribute to growing instability in the country and strengthen Hezbollah and Iran.
“The Pentagon’s objections were known to the White House before the decision was taken. Supporters of the move to withhold the security aid warn that U.S. support is ending up in the hands of Hezbollah, and claim that conditioning the aid will give opponents of Hezbollah a strong argument for decreasing the organization’s involvement in the military.”
Source: Haaretz
