US unfreezes $95M in military aid to Lebanese Armed Forces

A Lebanese army officer shows to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam an Israeli military positon on the horizon, in the southern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025, after the withdrawal last December of Israeli forces from the area under a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah. (RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images)

BEIRUT — The US State Department has unfrozen $95 million in military aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), granting a waiver to a halt on military aid that occurred shortly after the Trump administration arrived in January.

“The Department approved an exception to expend the $95 million of FMF [Foreign Military Financing] recently reprogrammed to Lebanon. We are working with our DoD colleagues to move forward with the implementation of these funds,” a State Department Spokesperson told Breaking Defense Tuesday.

This decision to greenlight the military aid to LAF comes at a time when the military has been charged with implementing a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, which includes the first major deployment to the south of Lebanon in decades.

The $95 million FMF sum was originally a part of military funding for Egypt, and was reprogrammed to Lebanon as the Biden administration exited the White House. Days later, FMF agreements were halted by the Trump administration, pending a review. News of the money being unfrozen was first reported by Axios.

“These funds will directly support the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) as they work to implement the Lebanon-Israel Cessation of Hostilities. The LAF’s deployment into southern Lebanon – and Hizballah’s withdrawal – will represent the most significant steps towards implementation of UNSCR 1701 since the resolution was passed in 2006,” a State Department official told Breaking Defense on Jan. 7 when the initial announcement was made.

The official added that “supporting the LAF to exert sovereignty across all of Lebanon will constrain the malign activities of Hizballah and their Iranian backers both in Lebanon and their destabilizing activities across the globe.”

“Additional FMF will further enable the LAF to secure the South Litani area, implement UNSCR 1701, and signal strong U.S. commitment to advancing the U.S.-brokered agreement to partners who may be considering increasing assistance to the LAF,” the official added earlier.

Israel completed its withdrawal in February 2025 but held on to five supervising positions in the South. And as the Lebanese armed forces are deploying in the South, there is also an increased burden on their shoulders to secure the Northern and Eastern borders with Syria, especially after the fall of the Assad regime. Hence, getting the US aid in could prove extremely well timed for the LAF.

The Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, which saw a number of Hezbollah leaders killed and their power base inside Lebanon degraded, has led to a resurgence for the LAF. On Jan. 9, the Lebanese parliament elected the LAF chief Joseph Aoun as president of the country and during the same month the head of the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam, was appointed as prime minister, changing the internal dynamics of the country and bringing new non- Hezbollah allied figures to power.

In his speech to the parliament, Aoun stressed the state’s exclusive right of carrying arms, a notable statement hinting at ending armed groups outside of the military — a move aimed at  the Lebanese armed group, allied with Iran, Hezbollah. As a sign of how things have changed, the delayed funeral of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, took place on Feb. 23 with little incident.