Us Shifts 100 Million In Military Aid From Israel And Egypt To Lebanon To Bolster Ceasefire

The Biden administration in its final days is shifting more than 100 million in military aid from Israel and Egypt to Lebanon as it tries to bolster a ceasefire agreement it helped mediate between Israel and Hezbollah.

In separate notices sent to Congress, the State Department said it was moving 95 million in military assistance intended for Egypt and 7.5 million for Israel toward supporting the Lebanese army and its government. The notices were dated Jan. 3 and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Most of the money will go to the Lebanese Armed Forces , which have a critical role in standing up the ceasefire that was agreed to in November following an all-out war between Israeli and Hezbollah that battered much of southern and eastern Lebanon for two months.

It is intended to help the LAF deploy in the south of the country and supplement the role of the U.N. peacekeeping mission patrolling the so-called Blue Line, which has separated Israel and Lebanon since the end of a monthlong Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

"Successful implementation of the ceasefire will require an empowered LAF, which will need robust assistance from the United States and other partners," the State Department said in the notices, both of which used nearly identical language to explain the funding shifts.