BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army is facing a threat unlike any it has come up against since Lebanon’s independence: jihadist groups – not just one but two – seeking to penetrate the country and establish a base in the badlands near the porous border.As a result of a Syrian government-Hezbollah offensive to secure the mountainous Qalamoun region just east of Lebanon, ISIS and theNusra Front have been pushed into the Bekaa Valley’s peripheries, leading to a rapid deterioration in security.
The most recent consequence of this was last month’s five-day battle for Arsal. The Lebanese Army may have eventually retaken the isolated border town, but it did so at great cost – 19 soldiers dead and between 11 and 20 captured – highlighting how under-equipped the military is.
Although military analysts and former generals who spoke to The Daily Star roundly praised the Army’s personnel as being well-trained, united and in good shape, all identified equipment and specialized border and counterterrorism training as a major gap.
The no. 1 priority they all identified was building a proper air force.
Arsal showed that the Army “needs to be able to gather more intelligence and conduct more guided attacks,” said Aram Nerguizian, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“That means more investment in secure ground-to-ground and ground-to-air communications, and it also means building up the air force, which has atrophied since the Civil War ... and hasn’t broken through the 2,000 barrier in terms of manpower.”