Daily Star Lebanon – BEIRUT: The United States delivered over 1,000 new machine guns to
the Lebanese Army Friday, as part of an effort to bolster security along
Lebanon’s border. During the handover ceremony, held at the Army’s
Logistic Brigade headquarters in Kfar Shima, U.S. Ambassador Elizabeth Richard highlighted “the important role the Lebanese Armed Forces play in addressing the serious challenges Lebanon faces.”

The equipment included 800 heavy machine guns and 320 other crew-served weapons. A
statement released by the embassy said that the weapons would be used
to increase the Army’s defensive capabilities along the Syrian border,
and to improve the Land Border Regiments’ ability to effectively defend
their positions. “We are confident [that the weapons] will be directly employed to
protect and defend Lebanon’s borders, and by the very nature of that
act, Lebanon’s most valuable asset: its people,” Richard said. She
also noted that the shipment was part of an ongoing U.S. program to
improve the capabilities of Lebanese security forces, and to increase
the Army’s ability to “carry out its mission as the sole defender of
Lebanon.” “We recognize that the challenges facing Lebanon are
serious,” she said. “Many of them emanate from outside your borders. But
the Lebanese are strong, as you have proven over and over through
history.”

This recent shipment of aid comes on the heels of two
separate deliveries of U.S. military hardware made to Riyaq Air Base in
the Bekaa Valley in the past month.

Those deliveries, reportedly
of heavy weapons and artillery, arrived as the Army intensified its
targeting of militants along the country’s northeastern border.

The
Army has regularly attacked positions of Daesh (ISIS) and Jabhat Fatah
al-Sham – formerly known as the Nusra Front – near the Lebanese towns of
Arsal and Ras Baalbeck, since the militant groups launched a major
attack in that area in 2014.

Militants briefly overran Arsal and
took more than 30 Lebanese soldiers hostage. Though most of the captives
were eventually released, nine remain unaccounted for.

The Army
and security forces have also been increasingly cracking down on
militant sleeper cells, as part of a comprehensive security plan for the
Bekaa Valley.

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