The United States was the first country to offer humanitarian aid to Lebanese refugees two and a half weeks ago, according to Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs. Burns told defense reporters Thursday morning that the US has pledged $30 million worth of assistance, including medical kits for 10,000 refugees. He declined to comment on possible US troop involvement in either peacekeeping or humanitarian actions. Burns did say that the US supports the UN plan to hold a conference in Stockholm at the end of this month to further discuss aid and reconstruction efforts.
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
