The complex relationship between the United States and Hezbollah

A Lebanese national, Osama Hamada, pleaded guilty April 18 to conspiring to illegally export spare parts and drone technologies from the United States to Hezbollah before a federal court in the state of Minnesota, according to the Middle East Monitor. Among the material he was planning to send, according to U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald, were measurement units, which can be used to track an aircraft's position; digital compasses, which can be combined with the units mentioned above to make drone guidance systems; and several engines, both jet and 20-piston.  

According to the Associated Press, Osama's brother Issam also pled guilty to exporting drone parts to Lebanon, where the organization headed by Hassan Nasrallah operates. "The two brothers - who were arrested in February 2018 in South Africa and extradited to the United States in 2019 - had acquired advanced technology for drones from 2009 to 2013 and illegally exported them to Hezbollah, which the United States considers a terrorist organization," the agency said. 

A third individual, Samin Ahmed Berro, has also been charged with participating in the operation, although he is still at large. The trio are thought to have sourced technical equipment for drones from several American companies between 2009 and 2013, including goods from a company in Minnesota which makes digital compasses." Middle East Monitor said. "Hezbollah has used drones for many years" and the Hamade brothers “present a danger to the United States, and to other communities around the world" the prosecution concluded in its indictment.

This episode highlights the opaque connection between the American giant and the Shiite militia, never officially intended by the former. The analyst James Sinkinson denounces in Israel Hayom that "US aid to Lebanon funds Hezbollah: It is time to stop it". "Every penny of the quarter-billion-dollar US annual contribution to Lebanon supports Hezbollah terrorists, Iranian imperialism and military threats to Israel," he says. 

His position is defended by a group of Republican senators, headed by Ted Cruz, who in mid-May presented a bill to prohibit U.S. government assistance to any Lebanese government "that is influenced or controlled by Hezbollah. The document must be approved by both the Senate and Congress and must ultimately be ratified by the country's president, Donald Trump.  

"The Lebanese government is controlled by Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans," Cruz's spokeswoman said in submitting the bill. "This plan would prohibit any assistance to Lebanon until the president certifies that Hezbollah is not a member of the government, does not exercise influence over it, and does not have power in any government ministries." according to Washington FB, which obtained a copy of the text. 

"Aid to Lebanon has emerged as a flashpoint between the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, many of whom have sought to end the funding due to Hezbollah's near-total control of the Lebanese political system," Washington FB analyst Adam Kredo said, "U.S. officials have warned for some time that American civil and military aid has fallen into the terror group's hands" as proven by the case of the Hamade brothers.  

Each year, Washington allocates more than $100 million to Beirut, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program, to assist the country "in recovery efforts," according to the mission's official website. The fund is aimed, among other things, at education, water and sanitation services, rebuilding national infrastructure, preserving the country's ecological resources and strengthening local governance.  

However, it should be recalled that Hezbollah, through the March 8 coalition, negotiated the formation of the country's new government, led by Hassan Diab, - who came to power in February - together with his allies, including the Free Patriotic Movement, led by Gibran Bassil, son-in-law of the country's president, Michael Aoun. The militia thus became the "great architect" of the Lebanese cabinet, as Imad Salamey, professor of political science at the Lebanese University in the United States, said at the time in Al Jazeera. "The new Executive would not have been able to move forward without the support of the Hezbollah Shiites, who supported Diab's proposal in exchange for being able to appoint two ministers of his tendency," explains journalist Mar Romero on France 24. 

Therefore, through its delegates, the organization qualified as a terrorist has direct access to the management of the funds that Lebanon receives from the American giant, as well as from other countries and international agencies.  

Moreover, the militia's penetration of Lebanon is such that it has succeeded in supplanting the State on some occasions, which has enabled it to gain legitimacy and support among the population. Through "clientelism" or "social aid", for example, in the coronavirus crisis, it has mobilized ambulances and food stores to protect the most disadvantaged, to whom the government authorities practically do not allocate resources. Although it seems a noble strategy at first sight, its aim is none other than to control the country, to bring it closer to its radicalised and Islamist party agenda.