BEIRUT: U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard Wednesday announced an over $40 million reimbursement for the Lebanese Army’s border operations at a meeting with military heads.
“I also wanted to take a minute today to take the opportunity to also announce the recent delivery of a significant amount of funding that was just transferred from the Department of Defense to the Government of Lebanon, through the Ministry of Finance,” Richard said, according to a statement from the embassy in Beirut.
Richard and U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs Heidi Grant met with Army head Gen. Joseph Aoun at his office in Yarze to announce the $42.9 million reimbursement for border operations.
Part of the Border Operations Reimbursement Program allows the Lebanese government to request reimbursement for some of the Army’s costs in securing the borders, particularly in the Army’s fight against Daesh (ISIS) and other extremist groups, the statement reported.
“As we have seen, the LAF has done an excellent job stopping the advance of these groups [such as Daesh] into Lebanon’s northeast border and the Army continues to prevent their spread into and throughout the country,” Richard said, according to the statement. “So this reimbursement to the Government of Lebanon was based on invoices that were prepared by the Lebanese Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Ministry of Defense and the Army for this year.”
Richard also touched on continued support for the Army – a pressing question since the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri over the weekend. In the wake of the news, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz said in a statement earlier in the week that America should now cut assistance to Lebanon over Hezbollah’s role in the country.