U.S. special forces operating recon drones in Lebanon

U.S. special forces personnel are operating pilotless reconnaissance drones in Lebanon to help the Lebanese Army confrontISIS and other extremist groups entrenched along the northeast border with Syria, The Daily Star has learned.

The drone support is part of an accelerated package of military assistance, including weapons and ammunition, provided by Washington to bolster the Lebanese Army in recognition of the continuing threat posed by radical groups and expectations of “spring offensives” being waged by one or more parties along the volatile eastern border in the coming weeks.

The Lebanese Army’s current air assets along the northeast border consist of two Cessna Caravan aircraft, one of which is armed with laser-guided Hellfire missiles while the other is unarmed and used in a reconnaissance-only capacity.

The Cessnas, which are designed for counterinsurgency operations, have played a significant role in aiding the Lebanese Army against the militants holed up in the mountains opposite Ras Baalbek and Arsal. Both can track the movement and monitor the positions of the militants, while the armed Cessna provided fire support in recent battles waged by the army in Tallet al-Hamra east of Ras Baalbek in January and the subsequent assault and capture of the adjacent Jabal Jarash.

The unarmed Cessna will soon be fitted to carry Hellfire missiles and should be operational in four months’ time. A third armed Cessna will join the fleet in December.

To augment the Lebanese Army’s surveillance capabilities in the area, the U.S., at the Defense Ministry’s request, is operating two Aerosonde MK 4.7 unarmed reconnaissance drones out of Hamat air base near Batroun, according to several military and diplomatic sources.

The Aerosonde is a small catapult-launched midendurance reconnaissance drone with a 10-hour flying time. In 2012, the aircraft was selected by U.S. Special Forces command for its midendurance reconnaissance needs on a three-year contract.

A diplomatic source said that the Lebanese Army had been “very aggressive in tasking” the drones on reconnaissance missions along the northeast border.

The Aerosonde is not the only drone plowing the skies above the northern Bekaa Valley. Other than Israeli drones which regularly breach Lebanese airspace to circle above the Baalbek and Hermel regions,Hezbollah is also operating some of its own drones in the northeast ahead of the party’s widely anticipated offensive against ISIS, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and Syrian rebel factions in Qalamoun.In another of the many ironies of the convoluted and intertwined conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, Hezbollah and the U.S. military, through its technical and logistical support for the Lebanese Army, find themselves tacit allies in the fight against the extremists dug into the mountains straddling the Lebanon-Syria border. The drones of both U.S. special forces and Hezbollah are monitoring the same enemy. That raises the intriguing – but as yet unanswered – question as to whether there is any sharing of intelligence data collected by the drones operated by Hezbollah and the Americans.

Since the battle of Arsal last August, the Lebanese Army has greatly improved its defensive posture along the northeast border in a line between Naamat, northeast of Al-Qaa to just south of Arsal, an average of 8.5 kilometers distance from the border.

Although there has been some discussion within Army circles to push toward the border, an offensive is unlikely to occur until at least after the arrival of the initial tranches of French weapons and equipment as part of the Saudi $3 billion arms package.

The French deal has taken longer than expected to materialize, but diplomatic sources familiar with the agreement say that delays were to be expected given the nature of a large and complicated one-off package.

The deal includes items from the mundane such as large quantities of ammunition to advanced systems including a military air traffic control system and the Combattante FS 56 fast attack naval vessel.

Some of the larger items are not in stock in France and require dedicated production runs which means not all the promised systems will arrive for at least another two to three years.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has been able to swiftly expedite much-needed arms, ammunition and equipment to the Lebanese Army because the purchase-and-transfer system is already in place and has helped deliver over $1 billion in material over the past eight years.

According to the U.S. Embassy, recent acquisitions of U.S. arms by the Lebanese Army include 72 M198 towed 155mm artillery guns, 29 armored humvees, 30 M113 armored personnel carriers and 12 M109 self-propelled 155mm artillery guns from Jordan.

Jordanian instructors are due in Lebanon at the end of the month to train the Army’s 1st Artillery Regiment on the new system. Deliveries in the coming days and weeks include 239 TOW2 anti-tank missiles along with 20 launchers, 1,000 M16A4 assault rifles and $32.5 million worth of ammunition from small arms to artillery.

Funding for the armaments comes from the existing U.S. Foreign Military Financing program as well as the Saudi $1 billion grant offered last August of which approximately half is allocated to the Lebanese Army.

In the longer term, six Super Tucano light attack and reconnaissance turbo prop aircraft are on order.

Although Lebanon was allowed to “jump the queue” over other international orders for the aircraft, the six Super Tucanos are not expected to arrive until 2018, the diplomatic sources said.

The Lebanese Army’s six Huey II helicopters will be augmented by another three in the next delivery. Eventually, the fleet will total 18Huey IIs with the older Huey Is being phased out.

The Lebanese Army is also exploring with the U.S. the possibility of purchasing 77 M1A1 tanks. If the deal goes ahead, the M1A1s would replace the Army’s current inventory of T54/55, M48 and M60 tanks, the diplomatic sources said.