An American embassy official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the United States has provided the Lebanese military with $25 million in aid. Providing armed assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is longstanding American policy: according to the official, “In 2014 alone, the United States provided over $100 million to [the LAF], adding to the $1 billion in assistance provided…since 2006.” In an attempt to halt the tide of Sunni jihadis who have entered Lebanon, the U.S. has provided four tranches of arms to the LAF in the last six months.The LAF clashed with Sunni jihadists, including members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and al-Nusra Front, last August in Arsal, near the Syrian border. After negotiations, the Sunni jihadists took dozens of Lebanese soldiers and policemen into captivity: four have since been executed.

Despite the shared American and Lebanese interest in fighting Sunni jihadis, the LAF’s ties to Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, raise questions about who the arms will benefit.

Analyst Hicham Bou Nassif has written that there is an “entanglement between the military and Hezbollah” that is causing significant Sunni disenchantment with the LAF.  The LAF has been accused of collaborating with Hezbollah by Sunnis of aggravating the sectarian violence that has wracked Lebanon.

Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has argued that Hezbollah uses the LAF as a cover for its own attempts to exert its influence in Lebanon. Similarly, Israel’s former Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, said in 2010 that “Israel tends to view the distinction between the Lebanese Army and Hizbullah as increasingly cloudy. The Lebanese Army shares all its intelligence with Hezbollah. There are highranking officers in the Lebanese Army who are closely associated with Hizbullah.” He expressed his concern that any weapons transferred from the U.S. to the LAF could wind up in the hands of Hezbollah.

Analyst Lee Smith of The Weekly Standard has called the LAF “heavily infiltrated by Hezbollah.” Last September, The New York Times reported that the U.S.’s intelligence sharing with the LAF filtered down to Hezbollah. Mitchell Prothero of McClatchy reported in July 2013 that a Hezbollah commander had acknowledged that the CIA had warned Hezbollah via Lebanese security and intelligence officials of a planned attack by al-Qaeda-linked groups against the terrorist organization.

Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, has killed more American citizens than any other terrorist group except al Qaeda.

[Photo: TheLebaneseSoldier / YouTube ]