Subcommittee Hearing on Lebanon
Last Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, held a hearing titled “Lebanon at a Crossroads.” The subcommittee convened two separate panels and heard testimony from four witnesses. The first panel consisted of Lawrence Silverman, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, and Major General Michael Plehn, Principal Director for Middle East Policy at the Department of Defense. The second panel consisted of Dr. Paul Salem, Vice President of the Middle East Institute (MEI), and Aram Nerguzian, Senior Fellow and Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The hearing concentrated on assessing the impact of the Syrian civil war on stability and security in Lebanon.
The hearing began with opening remarks from Subcommittee Chairman Tim Kaine (D-VA). Kaine stated that while much attention has been devoted to the civil war in Syria, the impact the conflict has had on Syria’s neighbors, and on Lebanon in particular, has been overlooked. He argued that Lebanon has “paid the highest price in terms of the stability and security of the country” and, therefore, the U.S. needs to pay more attention and increase its investment in helping to secure a stable and united Lebanon for the future. Lastly, Kaine elaborated on the strain put on Lebanese resources by the presence of a large number of Syrian refugees, more than one million, and raised the issue of Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian conflict and its effect on the fragile sectarian balance in Lebanon.
Mr. Silverman followed Kaine’s opening statements by acknowledging that focusing on the number of Syrian refugees flooding Lebanon should not come at the expense of concentrating on the political instability that is related to Lebanon’s debilitating security conditions. Silverman stressed that while the U.S. has provided over $350 million in assistance to Lebanon to help deal with the refugee crisis, not enough has been done to support the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces in their efforts to combat Hezbollah’s growing strength and the threat of terrorism inside the country. Finally, Silverman stated that the U.S. should replicate the financial, political and security assistance provided to Lebanon by the International Support Group for Lebanon, a consortium of international actors dedicated to shielding Lebanon from the harmful spillover from Syria and to upholding the Baabda Declaration, a Lebanese policy of non-intervention in Syria.
The second witness on the first panel, Maj. Gen. Plehn, emphasized the security situation in Lebanon. Plehn mentioned that the Syrian conflict is attracting foreign fighters who are not only gaining fighting experience, but are carving out territory within Syria to train and recruit additional fighters and make contact with extremist groups in Lebanon, all of which is already having a destabilizing effect on the country. Plehn said that the LAF, as the sole legitimate fighting force representing a united, democratic Lebanon, is being singled out for attack. This led Plehn to describe the kind of military-to-military relationship the U.S. has with the LAF: since 2005 the U.S. has contributed $1 billion to the LAF, the U.S. has sent more than $100 million in Section 1206 funding (funds for counterterrorism and stability operations), and the U.S. International Military Education and Training (IMET) Program in Lebanon is the fourth largest of its kind, having trained more than 1,000 Lebanese officers since the program began. Plehn also mentioned that the U.S. is working with the LAF to promote Lebanese security sector reform under the terms of the Department of Defense’s Defense Institution Reform Initiative. Lastly, in a follow-up question, Plehn said that the U.S., through its Office of Defense Cooperation in Lebanon, applies safeguards in the form of end-use monitoring on its Foreign Military Sales to Lebanon, making sure its equipment is accounted for and used properly. He also said that the U.S. doesn’t discourage the participation of U.S. allies in supplying arms, as Saudi Arabia and France announced a cooperative arms deal worth $3 billion in support of Lebanon.
The second panel was introduced with Dr. Salem testifying that Lebanon’s political institutions, while fragile, aspire toward inclusion and reconciliation and praising the formation of a new Lebanese government last week as a sign of progress. He also stressed that while most Lebanese factions reject the kind of extremism that might spiral into another Lebanese civil war, Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria has increased tensions and invited Sunni extremist groups to combat Hezbollah on Lebanese soil. Salem recommended that the U.S. support the new Lebanese government and the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections, continue its generous aid donations, encourage support from allies, continue the strong military relationship between the two countries, and help ensure stability on the border between Lebanon and Israel.
The last witness to give his testimony was Aram Nerguzian. Nerguzian spoke of a deepening sectarian divide that encompassed how different Lebanese groups viewed the role of Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia and their influence in Lebanon. He described the pressure on Sunni groups in Lebanon to confront Hezbollah and coordinate with extremist groups in Syria. Nerguzian also said that the LAF was committed to the security of Lebanon and was operating according to three national core goals: work to secure the Lebanon-Syria border and manage the violence in the country, maintain a quiet border between Israel and Lebanon, and apply an intense counterterrorism and stability program inside the country. Nerguzian said that the LAF’s counterterrorism and military intelligence operations increasingly defined the relationship between the LAF and the U.S. military.