US denies Lebanese army APCs given to Hezbollah

The United States denied an Israeli claim that US-supplied armored vehicles seen being operated by Hezbollah in Syria had been given to the group by Lebanon's official army, The Daily Mail reported.

Last month, footage emerged of Hezbollah fighters operating M113 armored personnel carriers in Syria, where the group -- blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization -- is fighting in support of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

On Wednesday, a senior Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity said Israel believes these vehicles were drawn from stocks supplied by Washington to the Lebanese Armed Forces. 

But, in Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said US officials have investigated and do not believe that Lebanon has violated its agreement not to transfer on US-supplied equipment.

"When this allegation was raised in November, the Department of Defense did a structural analysis of the armored personnel carriers in question at that time and concluded that these vehicles were not from the Lebanese Armed Forces. Our assessment remains the same now," Kirby said.

"As we noted when this first came up, the Lebanese Armed Forces stated publicly that the vehicles depicted online were never part of their equipment roster," he added.

"The LAF fully complies with end use monitoring requirements, continues to have an exemplary track record with US equipment and remains a valued partner in the fight against Daesh and other extremists," he said.

Pentagon spokesman Gordon Trowbridge said that Hezbollah does indeed have a "small number" of M113 armored personnel carriers in its inventory.

"They've had them for a number of years," Trowbridge said. "They could have come from a variety of sources because it's a relatively common vehicle in the region."

Source: MENA