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Senior Israeli Officer: Hezbollah Using U.S. Military Equipment Given to Lebanese Army

Hezbollah fighters in Syria are using American military vehicles and weapon systems originally given to the Lebanese army, Haaretz reported Wednesday.

A senior IDF officer told Haaretz that Israel has provided the United States with evidence, including photographs, showing that Hezbollah is using American armored personnel carriers (APCs) in its fight to prop up the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. According to Haaretz, “it is not clear yet whether the administration has acted upon it with the Lebanese government.”

The officer noted that Hezbollah has “strengthened its grip on the main national institutions in Lebanon,” including the nation’s military, in recent years, and believed that the Iran-backed terror organization had made “a deal” with the Lebanese Armed Forces to acquire the materiel.

Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar wrote in The Tower Magazine this month that Hezbollah “already has total control over [Lebanon’s] state institutions.”

Lebanon is the fifth-largest recipient of American military aid; it receives light and medium weapons as well as armored vehicles to help its fight against Islamist terror groups. Lebanon received a a $50 million shipment of American arms in August, which included 50 new APCs and 40 artillery pieces.

The U.S. embassy in Beirut said last month that it is working to authenticate pictures published on social media that showed Hezbollah parading an arsenal of American military equipment in Syria.

The transfer of weapons to Hezbollah is prohibited by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

[Photo: Twitter ]