Trump called to consider the US funding of the Lebanese army in the midst of charges of his ties with Hezbollah
Jerusalem – a seemingly alliance between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Terrorist Movement of Hezbollah adds greater urgency to the calls for Trump’s administration to withdraw the plug to great help LAF, and some analysts charge.
“Hezbollah and the Lebanese army are the same,” said Edy Cohen, Israeli Scholarshipist Hezbollah of the Lebanonians, for Fox News Digital. Cohen, a researcher at the Eitan Center, added: “Trump must not fund Lebanon.” He noted that the Lebanese army provided the intelligence of Hezbollah intelligence information on Israel.
A newspaper based in London He reported last week that the LAF chief had sent a classified document to Hezbollah. Laf -ov Suhil Bahij Gharb, who supervises the military intelligence for southern Lebanon, has provided confidential material from the military facility operated by the United States, the France and the temporary forces of the UN Libanon (Unifil), the newspaper reported.
Lebanese soldiers take security measures because the Israeli army extended the deadline for its withdrawal from the southern Libanon region on January 26, 2025. (Stringer/Anadolo via Getty Images)
On the day of the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the US State Department published Fact List on Cooperation in USA-LAF. “Since 2006, US investments in the amount of more than $ 3 billion have allowed the Lebanese army to be a stabilizing force against regional threats,” the document noted.
Senior Officer of Trump’s Administration told Fox News Digital that “Hezbollah has not really honored anything since 2006” and “Lebanon has the opportunity because Israel has destroyed Hezbollah’s leadership.” The clerk added that there is a “historical opportunity” with President Aoun. In early January, the Lebanese Parliament was elected commander by LAF Joseph Aoun as President Lebanon.
The increasing questions about the US-LAF partnership come at the time when the United States agreed to the request of Israel to expand the arrangement to break the fire between Jerusalem and Hezbollah by February 18th. In the statement, the US government said: “The government of Lebanon, the government, the government, the government, the government of Israel and the government of the United States will also begin negotiations on the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023.”
Hezbollah, however, seeks to light a fragile truce, according to Israeli experts.
AP reported that the Israeli forces were killed by two people and wounded 17 last Monday, according to Lebanese health officers. Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Kassem said his group would not accept the extension of the tribute – the indictment of the Libanon government, which agreed to extend the break in the fight.
Christian leader in Lebanon invites us, allies to intervene to stop Hezbollah
President Joseph Aoun examines an honorary guard upon arrival in the Lebanese Parliament in Beirut, Lebanon, January 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Mall)
“Israel has to be withdrawn because it has been over 60 days,” Kassem said. “We will not accept any excuse to extend one second or one day.”
“Every delay in withdrawal is the responsibility of the United Nations, USA, France and Israel,” he added.
Last week, the inhabitants of Pro-Hezbollah Shiit southern Lebanon defied the command of the Israeli army and sought to fall into their villages. As a result, at least 22 people were killed and 124 people were injured by Israeli forces, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Hezbollah used Shiite villages and residents to attack the Israelites from their ally, Hamas, massacred over 1,200 people in southern Israel. Hezbollah started his attack the day after the Hamas invasion.
The spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told Fox News Digital about rapid movement in Lebanon that there is nothing new on that front, except what you have seen from PMO. “
PMO is an abbreviation for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. Fox News Digital reported on Friday that Israeli Said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu“Since the fire interruption agreement has not yet fully implemented the Lebanese government, the procedure of the gradual withdrawal will continue to coordinate with the United States.”
Asked about the agreement between Laf -a Hezbollah, the IDF spokesman said, “We will not comment on that.”
Walid Phares, a leading Hezbollah and Lebanon expert, told Fox News Digital: “It is clear that Hezbollah had a great opposition to his military presence in Lebanon, at least since May 2008. The Government of the ‘Cedar Revolution’ after the Syrian withdrawal in 2005. “
Israel degrades terrorists Hezbollah supported in Iran in spectacular surgery of explosion: experts
Israeli soldiers raise fists from the movable APC in northern Israel near the border of Israel-Libanon, October 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratar)
Phares, who had previously advised Trump candidate, added: “In Washington, DC, discussing armament or not a Lebanese army. Hezbollah has a lot of influences in LAF. Some MPs want to stop the support of the military, others preach that the maintenance will support from Hezbollah. ”
He recommended a new policy: “Renewing money to new units in the Lebanese army dedicated only to the disarming Hezbollah. These units should apply to the command of the Army and President of the Republic and should be funded only on projects.”
Phares said, “When Israel eliminated the leadership of the terrorist militia, most Lebanonians hoped it was a moment to end Hezbollah and that the army disarmed him. People hoped that Lebanon would be able to get rid of and join and join Abraham contracts. But again, the Biden administration did not help because of the Iranian agreement. “
The critics of foreign policy of the Biden administration claimed that he was fascinated by the Iranian nuclear agreement and that he did not want to choose the struggle with the Iranian allies of the regime, and re -launched a nuclear agreement on Obama’s time with Tehran. Trump withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement because, he claimed, he did not prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb.
The bow celebrating Hezbollah and Iranian leaders decorates the southern suburb of Beirut on January 16, 2011. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)
IDF Colonel (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, President and founder of the Israeli Research and Education Center based in Israel, told Fox News Digital, “Hezbollah returns to southern Lebanon [and is] contrary to the arrangement. The Lebanese army does not fulfill its efficient schedule mission in South Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah from returning. “
A spokesman for the Lebanese Embassy was sent to Fox News Digital spokesman in Beirut, who did not respond to multiple inquiries for the press.
Zehavi, who lives near the Lebanese border, said: “We have not seen that the Lebanese army disarms Hezbollah. Hezbollah is returning to these cities. If there is still a weapon in these cities, I believe it exists, it means that it will be able to perform terrorist attacks.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
She said, “In the interest of Hezbollah, she causes death, causing friction to be her own Lebanese civilians. And present IDF as a force that should not be in Lebanon.” She warned, “We should not fall into the false message of Hezbollah.” Zehavi said that after the Second War in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel it was agreed that Hezbollah should not be in southern Lebanon. Unifr ignored The military accumulation of Hezbollah since the Second War in Lebanon in 2006, according to Israel.
The US State Department spokesman did not immediately respond to the Digital Pressa Fox News inquiry about whether the US government would end the help of LAF.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
