1206 Blowback?

Is the Defense Department's security assistance program for Lebanon's armed forces indirectly aiding Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces? In the wake of last week's deadly clash between Israeli and Lebanese forces, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO), House Armed Services Committee chairman, wants to know. The Missouri lawmaker sent Defense Secretary Robert Gates a letter today requesting that Pentagon officials brief him on how security assistance to Lebanon, which over the last five years has totaled $105.5 million, is advancing U.S. policy aims.

The "recent exchange of fire between Israeli and Lebanese armed forces along that border has me concerned that our policy with Lebanon may be counter-productive," Skelton writes:

First, I am concerned that the training and equipment we have provided the LAF for the purposes of counter-terror may in fact be used by the LAF against the Israelis.  I am also concerned of reports that the LAF is collaborating with Hezbollah and that Hezbollah is, as a result, an indirect recipient of our aid.

Yesterday, Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, announced that on Aug. 2 he placed a hold on future U.S. military assistance to Lebanon:

I have been concerned for sometime about reported Hezbollah influence on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and its implications for our military assistance program for Lebanon. For that reason, on August 2, I placed a hold on a $100 million dollar security assistance package to the LAF. The incident on the Israel-Lebanon border only one day after my hold was placed simply reinforces the critical need for the United States to conduct an in-depth policy review of its relationship with the Lebanese military. I strongly condemn the unprovoked attacked by the Lebanese Army that resulted in the death of an Israeli officer. Until we know more about this incident and the nature of Hezbollah influence on the LAF -- and can assure that the LAF is a responsible actor -- I cannot in good conscience allow the United States to continue sending weapons to Lebanon.

Steven Heydemann, a Middle East expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, told InsideDefense.com it is too early to tell whether Hezbollah played any role in last week's incident:

I would hope that the people raising the questions would think back to the purposes of why we are providing that aid in the first place, which is to strengthen the formal institutions of the Lebanese states and permit the Lebanese government to extend its sovereignty over all of its territory and to deny Hezbollah justification for maintaining a kind of independent non-state militia. So there is a broader strategic purpose that is served by providing military support to the Lebanese army. And I think it would be short sighted and counterproductive if we let an incident like this obscure what we are trying to achieve with that aid.

On June 14, the Defense Department notified Congress of its plans for a $23 million security assistance package for Lebanon using fiscal year 2010 funds. No lawmakers objected to that proposal over the subsequent 15 days, according to a Pentagon spokesman, which cleared DOD to press ahead with the assistance package for Beirut.

According to the Congressional Research Service, security assistance to Lebanon falls under so-called Section 1206 authority, which allows the defense secretary -- with the concurrence of the secretary of state -- to sponsor a program to build the capacity of a foreign nation's military in order to either participate in a military operation alongside U.S. forces or conduct counterterrorism operations, including:

For Lebanon, Section 1206 assistance first focused on helping the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to bring order to southern Lebanon and secure the country’s northern border in the wake of the July 2006 Israel strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. FY2006 assistance bought spare parts for trucks, armored personnel carriers, and helicopters. FY2007 assistance purchased trucks, secure communications equipment, vehicles and helicopter spare parts, spare parts for guns, and soldier equipment, including night vision goggles and body armor. FY2008 and FY2009 assistance has focused on equipment for Lebanese special operations forces. FY2008 items include secure communications equipment, as well as vehicles, night vision sights, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, vehicles and ambulances, small arms, clothing, textiles, and individual equipment. FY2009 Urban Solider Equipment items are intended to help Lebanese force conduct CT operations in an urban environment. This package includes bulldozers, Humvee ambulances, tactical armor vests, rifles, and night vision device rifle scopes. FY2009 funds are also supplying four Cessna Caravan aircraft, as well as related spare parts and training.