During his latest visit to Beirut, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and the Near East David Hale informed Lebanon of his country’s intention to provide the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) with military aid, sources told NOW Lebanon on Thursday.

This aid would include equipping the LAF with fighter helicopters, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hale submitted a list of US-made helicopters, at the top of which came the AH-1 COBRA fighter helicopter, to the Lebanese Ministry of Defense.

The list outlined the US Defense Department’s aid Lebanon as part of the plan aimed at consolidating the capacities of the Lebanese army to enable the LAF to preserve security, confront challenges and consolidate civil peace in Lebanon.

The sources did not rule out that the shooting of a military helicopter in the southern Lebanese village of Soujoud by Hezbollah gunmen may have been a preemptive message to internal and foreign parties.

According to such a message, any military aid provided to Lebanon should not alter the current field reality, and Hezbollah should not allow the disruption of the current balance of forces, which grants it military supremacy in Lebanon.

While a Hezbollah fighter has been reported as handed over to judicial authorities for the gunning, which killed Captain Samer Hanna, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday defended the shooting as a painful mistake, but nothing more.

Hale’s statement comes after his visit to Lebanon in late August, during which he met with Lebanese leaders, including President Michel Sleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri.

-NOW Staff