Lebanon to get military vehicles from UK to counter Daesh threat

Lebanon is set to receive 100 army vehicles free of charge from Britain to bolster the country’s defence against Daesh. The Land Rovers will be supplied to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Land Border Regiments which patrol the north and north-east border with Syria.

“[They will] further reinforce the stability on the Lebanese border with Syria and help the LAF to counter efforts by terrorists and smugglers to cross into the country,” said the British Embassy in Beirut.

Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that the vehicles are being supplied to Lebanon at the request of the LAF, which pointed out that its troops do not have the capability to patrol the border with Syria completely. Wallace explained that the vehicles supplied to the LAF are “surplus to the needs of the British Army.”

The 100 vehicles, which were used in Iraq and Afghanistan before being taken out of commission, are worth over $2 million. According to the Times, a specialist team of paratroopers from 16 Air Assault Brigade have been deployed to meet the vehicles on arrival in Beirut and will provide training to the LAF on their use.

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Britain has previously helped Lebanon to counter the threat of Daesh over the border in Syria by helping to build 79 watchtowers along the frontier. The British Army has also provided 350 Land Rovers and trained more than 11,000 LAF personnel in counter-extremist and anti-smuggling techniques in recent years.

In December, the US State Department agreed to provide Lebanon’s military with 300 high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, known as Humvees, to upgrade and standardise the army’s current fleet. The vehicles, worth $55.5 million, were sourced from military contractor American General, for use in counter-extremism operations along Lebanon’s borders.

The US also said that it would provide logistical, maintenance and technical support for the LAF along with the vehicles.

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