A Lebanese A-29 Super Tucano student pilot and a U.S. instructor pilot train in 2017 at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. The State Department approved a $100 million sale to Lebanon on July 11, 2025, for delivery of parts, equipment and logistical support for the country's Super Tucano planes. (Zachary Wolf/U.S. Air Force)
The State Department is authorizing the sale of $100 million worth of aircraft sustainment and equipment to Lebanon as months of efforts to disarm the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gain steam.
Approved Friday, the sale includes parts, equipment and logistical support for Lebanon’s A-29 Super Tucano planes.
The sale of A-29 sustainment equipment will bolster a key regional partner, specifically supporting Lebanon’s efforts to implement a November ceasefire agreement with Israel, a department statement said.
As part of that deal, the Lebanese government is required to prevent Hezbollah and other armed groups within its borders from carrying out operations against Israel.
The A-29’s variety of uses include close air support in ground operations as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the statement said.
State Department approval comes on the heels of an announcement last month by the Lebanese prime minister that more than 500 Hezbollah installations in the south of the country had been dismantled.
The war between Israel and Hezbollah began in September 2024. A significant Iranian proxy group in the Middle East for decades, Hezbollah was the major power broker in Lebanon. It has fought on and off with Israel since its formation.
The U.S. is in talks with Beirut over disarming Hezbollah. U.S. envoy Tom Barrack last week traveled to Lebanon and expressed his satisfaction with the government’s proposal, according to The Associated Press.
Hezbollah leaders have refused to lay down their weapons, sparking concerns about jeopardizing the shaky ceasefire agreement, the AP reported.
The White House is also working to expand the Abraham Accords, a 2020 agreement brokered by President Donald Trump that normalized relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Lebanon has no plans to normalize relations with Israel anytime soon, aiming instead for a “state of no war,” President Joseph Aoun said Friday.
But he added that going forward, only the Lebanese government will have weapons and control over the decision of whether to go to war.
