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The United States, which started cash distributions to Lebanese Army personnel in June 2023 under the “Livelihood Support Program,” will provide the last payment in November, according to a US Embassy official in Beirut. However, Washington will continue its support to the military institution, which has amounted to $3 billion since 2006, $180 million of which were provided last year. “The US will not allow attempts to drive a wedge” with the Army, the official asserted.
The six-month, $55.5 million “Livelihood Support Program” provides 70,000 eligible Lebanese Army members with 100 US dollars per month and ends in November. The US Embassy is “very satisfied with what it was able to do for the military, but not with what Lebanese officials did,” noted the official during a briefing at the Embassy in Awkar.
“We covered 6 months and told officials to use this time wisely, so that Lebanon can, in turn, pay its soldiers,” the source explained. “But they did not make any move. They neither elected a president through an open-ended electoral session, nor formed a government, nor implemented the reforms requested by the International Monetary Fund,” the source added.
Nevertheless, the Embassy is talking to other potential donors in that regard, the official added.
The Livelihood Support Program also provided $16.5 million to eligible Internal Security Forces personnel, for a total aid amount of $72 million. This sum was secured when Congress agreed to re-purpose a significant sum of US security assistance to Lebanon from army equipment to personnel.
No threats
The Embassy official denied allegations that US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf has threatened to stop US support to the Lebanese Army if a president is not elected soon. The source was referring to media reports claiming that Leaf made the threats during a meeting of the Group of Five (France, United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt) in New York.
“She was specifically talking about the Livelihood Support Program, and what was attributed to her is inaccurate,” the official said, adding that the reports “are a deliberate attempt to drive a wedge between the US and the Lebanese Army, and we will not allow this.”
The Army “has the highest approval rates in Lebanon, and serves in a cross-sectarian and apolitical way,” the official underlined.
The source pointed out that the Army will soon receive three vessels with a training package, a demonstration of continuing US support. “These will be very useful to accompany the oil prospection,” the official noted.
Survey of recipients
Another accusation refuted by the US Embassy source pertains to surveys of the recipients of the Livelihood Support Program. “Some media are accusing the Embassy of humiliating the military benefiting from the financial assistance, and this is a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth,” the official said. In fact, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is a partner of the US Embassy in implementing this project, “surveyed recipients to see whether the program helped or not. It is a kind of customer service and putting our service to test.”
The Embassy learned from the survey that the program was very beneficial to the soldiers and officers on the medical, educational, transport and other levels.
Land demarcation
Concerning land border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel, the official said that Amos Hochstein, who was the mediator in the maritime demarcation, “is assessing if there is seriousness on both sides” that would have the US willing to mediate again.
The official pointed out that after his success in the maritime demarcation, Hochstein has been promoted and has become “senior advisor” of US President Joe Biden, “continuously advising him.”
Regarding press reports that March 8 officials, namely Hezbollah and Speaker Nabih Berri, would be willing to facilitate the land border demarcation in exchange for the election of their candidate former Minister Sleiman Frangieh, the official said the Embassy is aware of people talking about “package deals.”
The source noted that the US “is the one doing the favor” by offering its mediation, “not the one receiving it,” stressing the fact that a package deal that is too large risks failure.
Syrian refugees
Regarding the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the official noted that the Lebanese population “did extraordinary good work in hosting them, which is not taken for granted by the international community,” adding, “we understand the popular frustration.”
The US “did a lot to help the Lebanese Army bolster its positions on the porous border to deny access to smugglers and criminals,” the official added.
Security
On the security level, the official said the Embassy is very grateful to the Lebanese security partners who arrested the person who opened fire last week on the US Embassy in Awkar. But “the investigation is still underway, and it is too early to draw conclusions,” the source said, concluding, “Never take security for granted!”
