Congress Gutted a Plan to Keep American Funds Out of the Hands of Hizballah

Since 2006, Washington has given some $2 billion in aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), hoping first to empower it to replace Hizballah in the southern part of the country, and later on to defend against al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and to prevent the spillover of the Syrian civil war into its territory. Yet not only has Hizballah grown stronger in the intervening years, but it now also exercises a great deal of control over the LAF—while building up its own ability to attack Israel and effecting a blood-soaked intervention in Syria. A bill currently before Congress would cut funding to the LAF—funding that ultimately benefits Hizballah—but a group of Democratic representatives has managed to neuter it, writes Adam Kredo: