US, Arab states supply military aid for Lebanon

The US and some Arab States have been ganging up on Shia's in Lebanon but in this case the target is radical jihadist Sunnis.

Lebanon defends military aid from U.S.

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer Sat May 26, 5:15 PM ET

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Lebanon's pro-Western prime minister on Saturday
rejected opposition criticism over planeloads of U.S. military aid
pouring in to shore up the country's army in its battle with Islamic
militants in a Palestinian refugee camp.

Three more U.S. transport planes with military supplies arrived from
Kuwait as part of an international airlift. A total of eight military
transport planes have landed at Beirut airport since late Thursday —
four from the U.S. Air Force, two from the United Arab Emirates and
two from Jordan.

A four-day-old truce between the Lebanese army and al-Qaida inspired
Fatah Islam militants mostly held up on Saturday despite sporadic
gunfire in the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of the northern
port city of Tripoli. But the Lebanese army has been gearing up for a
renewed fight, rolling more troops into place around the camp already
ringed by hundreds of soldiers backed by artillery and tanks.

The military confirmed it has received supplies from Arab countries
and the U.S. but gave no details. Media reports said they included
ammunition, body armor, helmets and night-vision equipment.

U.S. military officials have said Washington will send eight
planeloads of supplies, part of a package that had been agreed on but
that the Lebanese government asked to be expedited.

The U.S. aid is sensitive in a nation deeply divided between
supporters of the pro-Western government and an opposition backed by
America's Mideast foes,
Iran and
Syria. The opposition, led by the Shiite Hezbollah, accuses Prime
Minister Fuad Saniora's government of being too closely allied to
Washington.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned Friday that Lebanon was
being dragged into a U.S. war against al-Qaida that would destabilize
the country.

But Saniora told the Arabic service of the British Broadcasting Crop.
on Saturday that the aid was not a "crime"...

In Full:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070526/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_violence