Lebanon receives US artillery, ammunition

[Hindustani78]

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1171091/middle-east

BEIRUT: At least eight Hezbollah fighters were killed in a drone strike in the eastern Syrian desert, where pro-government forces are engaged in a grinding battle against the Daesh group, a monitoring group said Monday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a drone struck a position of the Lebanese militant group, which is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces.

A Hezbollah official confirmed the strike but not the toll. The official was not authorized to speak to the media so spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was not immediately clear who was operating the drone. Unmanned aerial vehicles are now widely used in Iraq and Syria, by armies and militant groups alike.

Israel has been targeting Hezbollah’s convoys in Syria with growing regularity, saying it cannot allow advanced weapons provided by Iran to be sent to Lebanon. Iran has sponsored and supplied Hezbollah since establishing the group in the 1980s to fight Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon.

But Israel’s strikes are generally confined to western and southern Syria, near the Lebanon and Israel borders. It has also been accused of striking Syrian government positions.

The US has also attacked Syrian pro-government forces by air, but only once in any connection to the war on the Daesh group, in September 2016, when an air raid killed at least 60 Syrian soldiers. The White House called the raid a mistake, and said it was committed to the war against the jihadist group.

Syrian pro-government forces have been confronted with a fierce counter-campaign after months of advances against the Daesh group in central and eastern Syria.

The jihadists briefly cut a major highway last week, isolating pro-government forces in the east and sparking a ferocious battle to win back the artery, activists said. The Observatory said two days of fighting in the desert area left 120 Syrian troops, Hezbollah fighters and other pro-government gunmen dead.

Syria’s military has heavily relied on Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, and other Iranian-sponsored militias throughout Syria’s six-year-old civil war.

 

[Hindustani78]

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/Ne...-Haq-militia-chief-at-Lebanon-s-borders-.html

Staff writer, Al Arabiya

Saturday, 9 December 2017


Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's office called on Saturday for an inquiry into the appearance of an Iraqi militia commander on a tour of Lebanese border areas.

Earlier, Qais al-Khazaali, leader of Iraq’s Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, had appeared in a video circulating late Friday showing him at Lebanon’s borders with Israel.

Several Lebanese journalists and political commentators have been sharing the video, expressing their surprise at Khazaali’s appearance.

He is seen in military garb in southern Lebanon, boasting that he and his militia are ready to support “resistance fighters,” in reference to Hezbollah

He said: “We here with Hezbollah declare our total readiness to stand together with the Lebanese people and the Palestinian cause against Israeli occupation.”

Many Lebanese commentators saw this announcement, though not the first of its kind, as bypassing the state and particularly concerning following US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel earlier this week


Qais al-Khazaali. (File photo: Reuters)

South Lebanon complies with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for a ceasefire in 2006 following the Israel-Lebanon war in July of that year.

 

[LeGenD]

failed vehicle from Iraq war.

???

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1208471/middle-east

BEIRUT: The United States has announced new assistance to the Lebanese military including helicopters and other advanced military equipment.

The new assistance package was disclosed during a visit by the head of US Central Command Gen. Joseph Votel to Lebanon on Wednesday during which he met with the army chief and Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Speaking after the meeting in Beirut, American Ambassador Elizabeth Richard said the package, valued at more than $120 million, includes six new light attack helicopters, six unmanned aerial vehicles and communication and night vision devices.

She said the equipment will help the army “build on its steady strong capability to conduct border security and counterterrorism operations.”

Washington has been a major supporter of Lebanon’s army, and has provided more than $1 billion in military assistance to Lebanon since 2006.