US Shifting Military Aid from Egypt to Lebanon, Report Says

According to an unconfirmed news agency report, the United States intends to redirect $95 million in military aid originally designed for Egypt to Lebanon.

Reuters news agency reported on Monday that the State Department’s notification to Congress of the planned shift identifies the Lebanese armed forces as “a key partner” in the preservation of the Israel-Lebanon agreement of November 27, 2024, to cease hostilities and prevent Hezbollah from posing a threat to Israel.

The action was taken in response to the expressed apprehensions of President Joe Biden’s Democratic colleagues regarding Egypt’s human rights record, particularly the incarceration of thousands of political prisoners.

No confirmation has been obtained regarding the document’s contents. The State Department and the Egyptian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

In September, the US Department of State’s digital publication, State, announced that the Biden administration would waive human rights conditions on military aid to Egypt toto provide Cairo with the entire $1.3 billion allocation. The sum of $95 million was specifically allocated to the advancement of political detainees’ release.

The notification did not specify that the $95 million was specifically from those funds; however, a congressional aide expressed his conviction that the sum was not a mere coincidence.

Egypt has been a critical ally in the Biden administration’s endeavours to increase the amount of aid that is delivered to Gaza and has assisted in the mediation of the so-far unsuccessful efforts to establish a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The decision to allocate the funds to Egypt in September was met with opposition from members of Congress, including Democratic Senators Chris Murphy and Chris Coons, who are both senior members of the Foreign Relations Committee. They issued a joint statement condemning the decision.

According to the State Department document, the funds would be allocated to the professionalization of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the enhancement of border security, the prevention of terrorism, and the resolution of security requirements that have been impacted by the change in power in Syria.

“The United States continues to be Lebanon’s preferred security partner and US assistance to the LAF directly contributes to the security of Lebanon and the broader Levant region,” the notification stated.

Strengthening Lebanon’s army could also help prevent the disruption of Syria’s transition by the Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah, which previously played a significant role in supporting al-Assad during Syria’s civil war.

Under US law, Congress has 15 days to object to a reallocation of military assistance. However, a congressional aide who is well-versed in the procedure predicted that lawmakers would support the administration’s decision to redirect the funds to Lebanon.

“This is a means of expressing that the funding that Egypt did not truly deserve and does not truly require should be reprogrammed and allocated to a more appropriate purpose,” the aide explained to Reuters.