White House withholding Lebanon aid, top US official confirms

A top official in the US State Department David Hale said that the White House is withholding military aid to Lebanon which has been valued at more than $100 million, leaving both lawmakers and policymakers in the dark. According to reports, Hale talked about the actions of Trump-led administration under oath to lawmakers during an ongoing impeachment inquiry against US President Donald Trump.

Unjustified hold of military aid

According to a transcript released by the prosecutors involved in the impeachment inquiry, Hale stated that the information came to him in the month of June that a restriction had been placed on the aid to both Ukraine and Lebanon without any justified reason and said that the aid had still not been released by the American government. 

Hale was also asked why the White House was not disbursing money, to which he replied that there was a disagreement over the effectiveness of the military assistance but his entire answer was redacted. According to the reports, two senior democratic officials sent a letter to the White House in which they stated the unexplained hold directly affected $105 million in military aid to Lebanon including military vehicles, ammunition and weapons.

Read: Engulfed In Political Crisis, Lebanon Parliament Speaker Calls Own Country A Sinking Ship

'Indefinite' hold

The 'indefinite' hold came to light before the outbreak of mass protests in Lebanon against the issues of economic hardship and corruption that ultimately resulted in Saad Hariri stepping down from the prime minister's post. 

However, the Trump-led administration has not given any justification for the decision taken and have been exerting pressure to isolate Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement that has seats in the government.

Read: Lebanon's Former Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi Withdraws His Nomination For PM

Threat to Lebanon

According to reports, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, and head of its Middle East subcommittee, Ted Deutch stated that Lebanon continued to be plagued by threats from extremist groups ISIS, Al Qaida and its associates alongside an increasing presence of militant group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is a Shia Islamist political party and an extremist group with a base in Lebanon. The militant group was founded in the 1980s as part of an effort to organise different militant Lebanese Shia groups into one unified militant organization.

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(With inputs from agencies)