Blowback in Lebanon (Page 3)

Arab regimes and the United States are rushing to shore up Siniora's government. On January 25, the same day of the bloody protests and curfew in Beirut, Siniora attended a donors conference in Paris, where he received pledges of $7.6 billion in aid and loan guarantees. Some of the funding will go toward reconstruction after last summer's war, but much of it will be used to make interest payments and refinance Lebanon's crushing $41 billion public debt. The country's debt-to-GDP ratio is now about 180 percent--the second-highest in the world (after Malawi). A large proportion of the pledges received at the Paris III conference are tied to unpopular economic reforms that Siniora has vowed to undertake, including raising taxes and privatizing state assets. Most of these measures--such as raising gasoline surcharges and the value-added tax--will most heavily affect Lebanon's poor and working classes, who are disproportionately Shiite.

Saudi Arabia led the list of donors, promising $1.1 billion in credits and grants. It was followed by the United States, which pledged $770 million, pending Congressional approval. Coupled with $230 million pledged after the summer war, US aid could top $1 billion--more than Washington has ever given Lebanon in the past. Before Siniora took office in 2005, US aid to Lebanon had hovered around $40 million a year.

The Bush Administration is allocating $220 million to provide training and equipment--including small arms, ammunition and Humvees--to the Lebanese Army. In past years, US funding for Lebanese Army and security forces had hovered around $2-3 million per year.

Most troubling to Shiites is that the United States has set aside another $60 million to fund the Internal Security Force, a branch whose size has been nearly doubled to 24,000 troops by Siniora's government since it came to power. The ISF has been filled with several thousand Sunni recruits, raising concerns among Shiites that it is intended as a counterweight to Hezbollah. The ISF--which answers to the Hariri-controlled Interior Ministry--was recently armed with weapons and equipment from the United Arab Emirates, a US ally that is worried about Iran's regional role. Siniora has also created a new intelligence branch--reportedly dominated by Sunnis and Christians--and expanded a special commando unit known as the Panthers.

This funding is being perceived as a US effort to arm Sunnis against Shiites. In recent weeks, Hezbollah's TV station, Al Manar, has frequently aired footage of US military planes at Beirut airport. The announcer asks, in an ominous tone, "What are these planes doing in Beirut?" He then notes that airport and government officials refused to comment.

"The ISF has been filled with Hariri's people. It has become a militia of sorts," says Saad-Ghorayeb. "It's dangerous for the US to be seen as arming one faction against another." In the volatile sectarian climate that pervades Lebanon today, perception is as dangerous as reality.

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