A shipment of 50 armored vehicles, 40 artillery pieces, 50 grenade launchers and over 1,000 tonnes of ammunition was unloaded at Beirut’s port on Tuesday, the U.S. embassy said.
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Workers unload a Humvee, as Lebanese Army soldiers stand near Howitzers, part of a military donation from the USA government to the Lebanese army, during a ceremony at Beirut’s port, Lebanon, August 9, 2016.
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard told reporters at Beirut’s port that the latest assistance is “a whole ship full of military equipment”.
The US has delivered a new shipment of weapons and military equipment to Lebanon in an attempt to bolster the Middle Eastern nation in countering extremists and militant groups from neighboring war-torn Syria.
Lebanon’s security forces have periodically been drawn into clashes with jihadi groups such as the self-styled “Islamic State” (IS) on the country’s northern frontier with Syria.
The US handed three military helicopters over to the Lebanese army in March, while the United Kingdom promised to provide training for Lebanon’s Land Border Regiments. Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other groups also regularly stage incursions into Lebanese territory.
Washington has provided more than $1 billion in military assistance to Lebanon since 2006.
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Lebanon has a weak government and a number of countries support its armed forces as a bulwark against destabilisation in a country where around a quarter of the population are Syrian refugees. Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement has fought alongside Syrian government forces in Syria’s civil war since 2013.
