Non-Subscriber Extract
US aid unlikely to turn around capabilities of Lebanese Army
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| 08 August 2006 |
By Ed Blanche JDW Correspondent
Cyprus
The US has offered to help train and equip the Lebanese Army so it can extend government control over Lebanon as part of a ceasefire agreement to end the current conflict between Hizbullah and Israel.
On 1 August Washington pledged an additional USD10 million to the USD1.5 million it already provides in military aid to Lebanon to upgrade the army's armoured vehicles and train its troops. Germany has also offered to train Lebanese forces.
Yet as things stand the Lebanese Army, which has operated primarily as an internal security force since the 1975-90 civil war, is incapable of undertaking any peacekeeping mission unless Hizbullah is completely disarmed.
It has been starved of funds for years because of Lebanon's economic woes, it is poorly equipped and does not have the combat experience or motivation of Hizbullah's battle-hardened Shi'ite fighters.
More troublesome is the composition of the army's 11 mechanised brigades and half-dozen special forces formations along sectarian lines between Christians and Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.
During the civil war the army splintered because of conflicting sectarian loyalties. Under the Taif peace agreement, thousands of former militiamen were absorbed into the army, intensifying the sectarian problem.
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© 2006 Jane's Information Group
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