US Denies Lebanese Army APCs Given to Hizbullah
Local Editor
The United States denied Wednesday an "Israeli" claim that US-supplied armored vehicles seen being operated by Hizbullah in Syria had been given to the Resistance group by Lebanon's official army.
Last month, footage emerged of Hizbullah Resistance men operating M113 armored personnel carriers in Syria.
On Wednesday, a senior "Israeli" military official speaking on condition of anonymity claimed "Israel" believes these vehicles were drawn from stocks supplied by Washington to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
But, in Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said US officials have investigated and do not believe that Lebanon has violated its agreement not to transfer on US-supplied equipment.
"When 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," Kirby stated.
He further added: "As we noted when this first came up, the Lebanese Armed Forces stated publicly that the vehicles depicted online were never part of their equipment roster."
"The Lebanese Army fully complies with end use monitoring requirements, continues to have an exemplary track record with US equipment and remains a valued partner in the fight against Daesh [Arabic Acronym for the terrorist "ISIS"/ "ISIL" and other extremists." he said.
Pentagon spokesman Gordon Trowbridge told AFP that Hizbullah does indeed have a "small number" of M113 armored personnel carriers in its inventory.
"They've had them for a number of years," Trowbridge said. "They could have come from a variety of sources because it's a relatively common vehicle in the region."
Neither US spokesman said where Hizbullah's M113s might have come from if not from the Lebanese army.
Images shared on social media in recent weeks showed Hizbullah staging a military parade in the Syrian town of Qusayr.
Photographs of armored vehicles and anti-aircraft batteries displaying the movement's yellow flag could be seen.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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