BEIRUT (BNO NEWS) – Lebanon’s defence minister on Saturday announced that the country has opened a bank account for the purpose of receiving donations to buy weapons for its ill-equipped military after the U.S. yanked funding for the Lebanese army last week, fearing it will be used against Israel, BBC reported.

The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman said that he used his legislative prerogative to suspend all military assistance to the Lebanese armed forces on August 2. He noted that there were concerns within Congress over the Lebanese political group and militant organization Hezbollah’s influence over the Lebanese army, and suspected that weapons bought with U.S. aid money might be turned on Israel due to rising tensions between the countries over the past weeks.

U.S. legislators blocked over $100 million of military aid, causing Defence Minister Murr to open the fund. The U.S. has provided $720 million in military aid to Lebanon since 2006, and the U.S. Department of State said that military cooperation with the country will continue. However, despite U.S. assistance, Lebanon’s 60,000-strong military force is poorly equipped.

Diplomatic relations have all but come to a stand-still between Lebanon and Israel, especially after four people were killed in a border clash between the two countries on August 3. Murr said that further U.S. aid would be rejected if it came with any pre-existing conditions that don’t allow Lebanon to protect its “territory, people, and border.”

Iran and Syria, staunch supporters of Hezbollah, have since reaffirmed their support for the Lebanese army

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