Israel claims that Hezbollah is using U.S.-made LAF military vehicles in Syria. US denies claim

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Hezbollah staged a parade in Qusair, Syria, featuring U.S.-made military armored personnel carriers and tanks.
Hezbollah staged a parade in Qusair, Syria, featuring U.S.-made military armored personnel carriers and tanks.

A senior Israeli military official said on Wednesday that Hezbollah militants fighting in Syria were using American-made armored personnel carriers that were originally supplied to the Lebanese Army.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia and political party, is fighting in Syria on the side of the Russian- and Iranian-backed government of President Bashar al-Assad against rebels seeking his ouster. Both the United States and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

If the A.P.C.s passed to Hezbollah from the United States-assisted Lebanese Army, that might point to a broader leakage of weapons to hostile groups, and to cooperation between the Lebanese armed forces and Hezbollah.

It would not be the first time that weapons supplied to a friendly Arab government by the United States ended up in the hands of militants. Shiite militias in Iraq have been photographed with American-made weapons. And this year, weapons given to Jordan by the United States and Saudi Arabia for Syrian rebels were stolen by Jordanian intelligence agents and ended up on the black market.

But it would be an odd turn if weapons supplied by the United States ended up in the hands of militants fighting for Mr. Assad, as the Obama administration has resisted giving some advanced weapons to the Syrian leaderโ€™s foes for fear that they would make their way into extremistsโ€™ possession.

Hezbollah is widely recognized as the most formidable military force in Lebanon, which the United States has tried to balance with support for Lebanonโ€™s armed forces. While the two forces have historically remained separate, the escalation of the war in Syria has led to cooperation between them to secure Lebanonโ€™s borders, according to Lebanese analysts close to the military.

The Israeli military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under army rules, showed a photograph of a number of military vehicles, including what he said were the American-supplied A.P.C.s, during an intelligence briefing for reporters at military headquarters in Tel Aviv. He said that Israel had shared this information with American officials a few weeks ago.

The official did not say how many of the A.P.C.s might have fallen into Hezbollahโ€™s hands or when or how it had happened, but he said he believed they might have been โ€œpart of a dealโ€ between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah.

John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, said on Wednesday: โ€œWhen this allegation was raised in November, the Department of Defense did a structural analysis of the armored personnel carriers in question at that time and concluded that these vehicles were not from the Lebanese armed forces. Our assessment remains the same now.โ€

The Defense Department says that a small number of the vehicles are in the possession of Hezbollah, but this has been the case for several years, Gordon Trowbridge, the deputy Pentagon press secretary, said Wednesday. The vehicles, he added, could have come from several sources in the region.

โ€œOur assessment is that they didnโ€™t come from the Lebanese armed forces,โ€ Mr. Trowbridge said.

The State Department said last month that it was investigating whether Hezbollah was using American military equipment after grainy images posted on social media appeared to show Hezbollah displaying American-made armored vehicles at a military parade in Qusayr, in western Syria, near the border with Lebanon.

News outlets reported that the display included American-manufactured M113 armored personnel carriers of the type provided by the United States to the Lebanese Army. A State Department spokeswoman, Elizabeth Trudeau, said at the time that the United States would be โ€œgravely concernedโ€ if that were the case.

The Lebanese Army command issued a statement denying that the vehicles had been taken from its arsenal, the Lebanese news media reported, and M113 A.P.C.s are not uncommon in the region. The American Embassy in Lebanon did not respond to a request for comment.

But the Israeli military official said that Israel recognized the A.P.C.s as being of the specific type given to the Lebanese military by the United States.

The official added that Hezbollah was strengthening its grip on Lebanese state institutions and that some Lebanese Army security chiefs were close to the Hezbollah leadership. Hezbollah, the official said, was carrying out combined patrols with the Lebanese Army along the border with Israel and had determined the location and height of new watchtowers the Lebanese Army built along the border to monitor Israeli movements.

The Lebanese Army recently received Cessna aircraft and Hellfire missiles from the United States. The Israeli official said he believed the Lebanese armed forces would be โ€œsmart enoughโ€ not to hand those to Hezbollah.

Israel fought a monthlong war against Hezbollah, which is committed to destroying Israel, in 2006. It still views Hezbollah as a formidable enemy on its border and watches the group carefully.

Israel has declared a position of neutrality and nonintervention in the Syrian war, but American officials say it has bombed a number of convoys inside Syria that were carrying weapons for Hezbollah. Israel has not confirmed or denied its role in specific attacks, but says it acts to prevent the transfer of sophisticated weapons.

Hezbollah has about 8,000 fighters in Syria, the Israeli official said. It has lost about 1,700 fighters in Syria and thousands more have been injured, he added.

NY TIMES

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35 responses to “Israel claims that Hezbollah is using U.S.-made LAF military vehicles in Syria. US denies claim”

  1. And this is news? Maybe to the world but not to us.

    1. Who are us?

  2. man-o-war Avatar

    Don’t worry Israel, your orange crush is coming to your rescue. He will move the US embassy to your eternal capital and will help you build more and more settlements. He will kill the 2 state dream/nightmare. He will make Israel great again!

    1. How do you view Sisi bending over for trump and Netanyahu to hold his vote? Palestinians won’t forget it..

      1. He’s a sissy lol

        1. ๐Ÿ˜‰

      2. man-o-war Avatar

        Egyptians have never been the Palestinians friends. They’re corrupt and led by dictators. They will do what brings in the most money. Just look at the Gaza siege for example. Israel guarding one prison wall and Egypt guarding the other side.

        1. Totally right, since Sadat..

          1. Or the Hamas and the MB friends have totally pi$$ed off the Egyptians.

          2. Egyptians dictators are corrupted Israeli puppets, not the Egyptians ๐Ÿ˜‰

          3. Most Egyptians are backward, half-literate mor0ns who consider mangling women’s vaginas a sacred tradition and overwhelmingly vote for Islamists when given the chance. But no, thay are not “corrupted”. ๐Ÿ™‚

          4. It’s Christmas, go away with your pornographic insults.

          5. I don’t celebrate Christmas, retard. I celebrate Festivus.
            You getting a semblance of a working brain would be a Christmas miracle.

          6. Well then Happy Festivus retard. Because let’s face it, who on Earth (other than retards that is) celebrate something started in a sitcom? (shaking head)

          7. You can shove it on Xmas, Festivus, Hanukkah, or on any other day, pal. ๐Ÿ™‚

          8. La barra sewer rodents pal.

          9. Why the hell did you adresse me then? For this?

            “Y K HebAlba โ€ข 5 hours ago
            Most Egyptians are backward, half-literate mor0ns who consider mangling women’s vaginas a sacred tradition and overwhelmingly vote for Islamists when given the chance. But no, thay are not “corrupted”.

            Egyptian are not the government!

          10. Part II – Precepts of the Talmud Concerning Christians
            Chapter I. Christians are to be Avoided

            Art. 1. Christians Unworthy to Associate with Jews
            Art. 2. Christians are Unclean
            Art. 3. Christians are Idolaters
            Art. 4. Christians are Evil

            Chapter II. Christians are to be Exterminated

            Art. 1. Christians to be Harmed Indirectly
            1. By not helping them
            2. By interfering in their work
            3. By deceit in legal matters
            4. By harming them in things necessary for life

            Art. 2. Christians to be Harmed Directly
            1. Renegades to be killed
            2. Apostates
            3. Princes especially the Prince of Rome (the Pope) to be exterminated
            4. All Christians to be killed
            5. Killing a Christian is an acceptable sacrifice to God
            6 HEAVEN PROMISED TO THOSE WHO KILL CHRISTIANS
            7. A Christian may be beheaded on the most solemn festivals
            8. The Messiah expected will be revengeful
            9. Jewish prayers against Christians
            10. Christian prayers for the Jews

          11. A brief note about the author. Justinas Bonaventura Pranaitis, a defrocked Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest who knew little of the Talmud. Another “protocols” example of ignorance.

          12. 5thDrawer Avatar

            Defrocking – for a reason. And also thus, SUCH a long time for ignorance to have not been wiped completely from thinking, except within archives of ancient irrelevant tomes. And yet, from those early 1900’s into 1990’s and I dare say into today, there pops up ‘allowed’ quotes against ‘others’ (value of a fingernail vs an arab, etc…) to keep the ‘concept’ of what was supposed to be a godly direction of ‘social orders’ away from constantly being pushed into a political means to some very sad ‘ends’ instead.
            Railing against Muslims for keeping ‘silent’ when hearing the absolute ‘nonsense’ quotes dragged from an obscured past, or from a ‘new-despot’ somewhere in a cave on the planet, is only justifiable IF and when the ‘religious’ of all do the same – and heavily refute those words dragging ALL the people backward into an obscurity they say they don’t wish for – yet don’t work well enough to avoid it. And we KNOW there are many who have simply NOT been educated at all, let alone in very bad directions.
            Those with no education at all are actually more ‘sociable’ to be with, and to live beside.
            (perhaps a tacit recognition of their lack of ‘why’ answers – yet having the basic qualities of human-need knowledge instilled by experience)

          13. That doesn’t change the Talmud.

          14. The Talmud hasn’t changed, just a$$holes like Pranaitis and yourself rewriting it.

          15. Nobody here said you celebrate Christmas. .or whatever from your dark sewer.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c84385440b77ec94fc7532d68176fa098d47e8dc0d9399066715802ebc1cc301.jpg

    2. The one state solution is the end of Israel… Demographically they will never win. They will be outbred.

        1. What happened to Russia Today? ๐Ÿ™‚

          1. 5thDrawer Avatar

            Hatred of ARTISTS !! Blew up a choir??? Another tragedy and investigation to do.
            – like they did a Band a few years ago in England, perhaps.
            Takes longer to know, when they need to be fished out of a sea.

          2. Just rusty unreliable junk used to carry people in the sky. What could possibly go wrong? ๐Ÿ™‚

          3. -“Shakespeare had it right. The evil that men do indeed lives after them”.

            Nahum Goldmann, who served in a variety of Jewish and Zionist organizational leadership posts from the 1920s through the 1970s.

            The Anti-Catholic, Nahum Goldmann;
            “I hardly exaggerate. Jewish life consists of two elements: Extracting money and protesting.”

            -Nahum Goldmann, Ex-President of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in his book “The Jewish Paradox”,

          4. The YuK junk is bragging about it..

      1. Demographically and socially.

        From Wiki on Shlomo Sand: He also opposes the one-state solution because, while “very very popular in leftist circles,” it is “not serious” because Israelis, being “one of the most racist societies in the western world,” will never accept it.

        1. Indeed. It is well known that cockroaches – with their complex social structure – can survive and flourish even in a nucler wasteland. Which makes getting rid of them well-nigh impossible.

  3. The Hizzbillies are all full of themselves because they have some US APCs. The M-113 may have had a illustrious past, but are prone to the weapons of today and are being phased out, which is why Lebanon has them….err…had them.

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