The U.S. Embassy in the Lebanese capital of Beirut announced on April 16 that Washington had delivered $14,3 million worth of military equipment to the Lebanese military as a part an ongoing military aid program.
According to a short press release by the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, the new shipment included night-vision devises, radio systems and other military equipment.
Most of the equipment and weapons supplied to Lebanon under the military aid program are either second-handed or from older generations. Military experts even claim that some of the equipment were down-graded, like the M2A2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) Lebanon received last year.
Earlier this month, the U.S. delivered six ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the Lebanese military in order to boost its limited reconnaissance capabilities.
Lebanese experts believe that the U.S. is beefing up its support for the Lebanese military in order to present it later as an alternative for Hezbollah or even to extract concessions from the country’s government on some regional issues.