The Lebanese Government has recently called for all citizens and expatriats of Lebanon to donate money to its military. This move was prompted by the U.S. halt of a $100 Million aid package to the Lebanon military.
Congress decided to reexamine its policy towards Lebanon after the now infamous tree cutting incident. The IDF has a policy of clearing trees on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Israel does this for strategic reasons, often the trees obstruct the patrol guards view of what’s happening on the Lebanese side. The Israeli military is said to have co-ordinated with the UN border peacekeeping forces regarding the tree cutting. However, the Lebanese army engaged the IDF in gunfire and as a result 3 lebanese nationals were killed. One of whom happens to be a journalist. It is curious that a journalist was on the scene of a regular tree cutting exercise.
Congress has started to examine this incident and reevaluate its aid to Lebanon. Although the State Department disagrees with this move. In addition, Iran has been directly funding the Lebanese military since 2006, seperate from its aid to Hezbollah. Hezbollah has expressed its support for the Lebanese Army and a willingness to fight with the army should a confrontation with Israel ensue.
