In a joint program with the United Nations, the United States announced $72 million in aid to crisis-hit Lebanon on Wednesday to cover security personnel salaries for six months.
For three years, Lebanon’s economy has been in free fall, resulting in a slashed military budget and eroding the value of soldiers’ salaries.
Washington, which has long been Lebanon’s largest donor, has collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to facilitate the delivery of the country’s first US aid of its kind.
The program “will provide $72 million in temporary financial support for Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces personnel,” according to a joint statement from the UN agency and the US embassy in Beirut.
It will be disbursed by UNDP through a local service provider, it added.
“These payments will provide $100 per month for six months to every soldier and police officer eligible to receive assistance under US law,” according to the statement.
According to the statement, this is “the first time the United States has ever provided such financial support to security forces in Lebanon,” according US Ambassador Dorothy Shea.
A low-ranking Lebanese soldier’s average monthly salary is now around $50, down from around $800 before the 2019 economic crisis.
Qatar announced $60 million in aid for Lebanon’s cash-strapped armed forces last year, with a security source telling AFP at the time that it would cover soldiers’ wages.
Since 2019, the local currency has lost 95 percent of its market value, forcing hundreds of members of the security forces to defect and many others to seek side jobs.
Due to rising food prices, Lebanon’s army announced in 2020 that it had removed the meat from the meals served to on-duty soldiers.
In June 2021, it announced that it would sell helicopter rides to tourists in order to increase its revenue.
