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| Friends talk about Mustafa Borghol, a soldier killed last week in fighting between the Lebanese Army and militants. Nicholas Blanford |
In Lebanon, soldiers win new respect
Nearly 150 Lebanese soldiers have died recently in clashes with Al Qaeda-linked militants, but growing public support has lifted the Army's morale.
from the August 28, 2007 edition
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Soldiers say they lack equipment
Recently, in an attempt to winkle out the militants from their bunkers, the Army has made use of 1,000-pound aerial bombs from the 1960s, when Lebanon maintained a small air force. Each bomb is slung beneath a Vietnam war-era "Huey" helicopter and flown over the camp, then dropped manually and unguided onto the bunkers. The bombing runs tend to occur before dawn when the darkness masks the helicopters from groundfire.
"This is the technology of World War I, but we have no choice," says a senior Army general who requested anonymity as he is not authorized to talk to the press.
The United States is giving $270 million in military financial assistance to Lebanon for 2007, a 550 percent increase from 2006. Most of the assistance is allocated to nonlethal equipment and training. Only a fraction is committed to emergency ammunition, such as artillery shells for the Army's 155-mm guns. But the Army says that it could have crushed Fatah al-Islam by now if it had received appropriate weapons such as antitank missiles for helicopters.
"We need weapons, conventional and advanced ammunition," Gen. Michel Suleiman, commander of the Lebanese Army, said recently. "We didn't get anything but promises and best wishes and some ammunition, but no equipment. It's as though they are telling us, 'die first and assistance will follow.' "
The US views the Lebanese Army as key to stabilizing Lebanon and providing a counterweight to the military might of Hizbullah, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization. But the US traditionally has been reluctant to provide weapons to the Army in case they end up being used against Israel.
"The Americans say they want to help us, but we have one big problem in the US, and that's their Congress," the anonymous general says. "They won't even let us have a handgun."
Army general for president?
Still, the Army's high profile and the praise for General Suleiman's leadership has marked him as a potential presidential candidate when elections are held next month.
Lebanon's feuding politicians so far have failed to reach consensus on the choice of the next president – who must be drawn from the Maronite community – and some Lebanese believe that the Army commander is the best choice to bridge the political divide.
Suleiman has played down the press speculation, but he has issued some carefully worded statements designed to appease both factions and he has paid a visit to the influential Maronite patriarch who has a powerful say in the choice of president.
Although he has a reputation as a capable Army commander, Suleiman was appointed to the post in 1998 when neighboring Syria dominated Lebanon and he enjoys close relations with the Iran-backed Hizbullah, which makes him suspect in the eyes of Lebanon's anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.
Other Lebanese oppose Suleiman's candidacy because it risks politicizing the Army, turning it into another faction in the quagmire of Lebanese politics.
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