Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday denounced a US Congress decision to block some $35 million in aid to Lebanon unless the government deploys troops along its border with Israel, the Daily Star reported.
“I thank you for canceling assistance to my country,” Berri said in a letter to his American counterpart, Dennis Hastert.
But US Ambassador David Satterfield said that the US State Department continued to oppose the measure and would try to ensure that aid was not cut.
The move, according to the paper, was introduced by Democratic lawmaker Tom Lantos, passing 216-210 as an amendment to a larger State Department authorization bill outlining US foreign policy objectives, according to the paper. The measure cuts $625,000 in military training funds to Lebanon and would terminate $35 million in aid if troops are not deployed along the border in six months.
The US Senate has yet to take up the measure, though its foreign relations committee is expected to consider it within the next few weeks, it added.
Lantos said the demanded deployment would help create stability in the south and end the cycle of attack and retaliation between Hizbollah and Israel. Without Lebanese Army control of the border “there will be more terrorist attacks by Hizbollah, there will be more retaliation, and we may be on the verge of another military confrontation... a bloodbath in the Middle East,” said Lantos, ranking Democrat on the US House international relations committee – Albawaba.com
