A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill would provide Lebanon with up to $1.68 billion in specifically identified security and institutional assistance over five years while tying much of the funding to measurable progress in disarming Hezbollah and restoring the Lebanese state's exclusive authority over weapons, according to a policy briefing released Tuesday by the American Lebanese Policy Institute Political Action Committee (ALPI-PAC).

The Lebanon Sanctions, Stabilization, and Support Act, or S. 5356, was introduced on Aug. 6 by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma as an original cosponsor. The legislation has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and, as of Tuesday, has not passed either chamber or become law. 

ALPI-PAC, which strongly supports the legislation, described it as a framework designed to strengthen the Lebanese state while using U.S. assistance and sanctions to press for the dismantling of Hezbollah's military infrastructure and the consolidation of state authority.

"Lebanon's sovereignty requires the complete, verifiable, and time-bound disarmament of Hezbollah and the restoration of exclusive state authority over all arms and territory," the organization said in its statement. 

The bill combines security assistance, sanctions, humanitarian aid, reconstruction incentives, financial-sector reforms and congressional oversight. Its stated objectives include establishing a state monopoly over force, strengthening the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces, combating Iranian financing and illicit networks, expanding state services in areas where Hezbollah has operated parallel institutions, and supporting reconstruction without allowing Hezbollah or affiliated structures to control aid.

Up to $1.68 billion in identified funding

The legislation would authorize $240 million annually in base security assistance for five years, or $1.2 billion in total.

That package would include $200 million a year in Foreign Military Financing, $25 million annually for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, $11.5 million for nonproliferation, antiterrorism and demining programs, and $3.5 million for international military education and training. 

The bill would allow additional funding if Lebanon and its security institutions demonstrate progress against Hezbollah and other armed groups. A first performance-based tier could add $60 million annually in fiscal years two through five, for as much as $240 million. A second tier could provide another $60 million annually in years three through five, adding up to $180 million.

Separately, the legislation would authorize $20 million a year for three years to support salaries and stipends for members of the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces, bringing the maximum specifically identified authorization to $1.68 billion. 

The figure does not include humanitarian assistance or a proposed reconstruction incentive fund, because the bill does not specify dollar amounts for those programs.

ALPI-PAC emphasized that the legislation is an authorization rather than an appropriation. Congressional passage alone would therefore not provide the money; actual spending would remain subject to subsequent appropriations. 

Assistance linked to Hezbollah disarmament

A central feature of the bill is its use of funding conditions to push Lebanon toward a state monopoly over arms.

For most of the base security assistance, no more than 50 percent could be obligated until the secretary of state certifies that Lebanon has declared Hezbollah's military activities illegal and that the Lebanese Armed Forces are implementing government directives to establish a monopoly over force and disarm Hezbollah.

Special-operations units and associated enabling forces would be exempt from that restriction. Unlike the reconstruction provisions, the security-assistance restriction contains no general national-interest waiver. 

The bill also cites a series of Lebanese government decisions, including an August 2025 decision to establish a state monopoly over arms, a September 2025 plan to achieve that monopoly by disarming Hezbollah, a March 2026 decision banning Hezbollah's security and military activities, and an April 2026 decision placing weapons in Beirut under government control.

The legislation would authorize U.S. assistance for countering Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Iranian proxy forces operating in Lebanon, as well as for training and vetting Lebanese security personnel, weapons interdiction, financial-crime investigations and efforts to combat Captagon trafficking. 

Sanctions aimed at Hezbollah networks and obstruction

S. 5356 would give the president authority to impose sanctions on foreign individuals involved in specified activities after the law's enactment.

Those activities would include providing material support to Hezbollah, supporting Iran's illicit financing or armed non-state actors in Lebanon, obstructing the Lebanese military or security forces as they implement disarmament decisions, and significantly delaying Lebanese banking and financial-sector reforms.

Potential penalties would include blocking property under U.S. jurisdiction, restricting access to U.S. loans and credit, prohibiting certain foreign-exchange transactions, and imposing immigration and visa restrictions. The bill gives the president discretion over whether to impose sanctions, while certain immigration consequences would become mandatory once a covered foreign national is designated. 

At the same time, the legislation contains safeguards intended to limit unintended economic and humanitarian consequences.

Food, agricultural commodities, medicine, medical devices and humanitarian assistance would be protected, while Treasury guidance would clarify that a government entity associated with a sanctioned individual would not automatically become sanctioned. Companies owned or controlled by a sanctioned person could also remain outside the sanctions regime if they contribute to legitimate Lebanese economic activity and have not been independently designated.

The sanctions provisions would expire five years after enactment unless Congress extends them. 

Reconstruction and state services

The legislation would require continued U.S. humanitarian assistance for Lebanon's political and economic stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Eligible assistance would include hospitals, clinics, ambulances, public-health supplies, food, shelter, water and sanitation, demining and the removal of unexploded ordnance.

It would also create a State Department-administered reconstruction incentive fund for national and municipal services, institutions and civilian infrastructure. The fund could not be used by the Council for South Lebanon.

No more than half of the reconstruction funding could be obligated until Lebanon declares Hezbollah's military activities illegal and the Lebanese Armed Forces implement government directives establishing a monopoly over force and disarming Hezbollah. The secretary of state could waive that restriction by determining that doing so is in the U.S. national interest. 

The bill further requires the administration to develop a strategy for expanding government services and legitimate political participation in communities that have depended on Hezbollah's parallel institutions.

ALPI-PAC said the approach should ensure that American assistance "strengthen[s] the Lebanese state rather than Hezbollah or parallel institutions," while protecting humanitarian activity and legitimate Lebanese economic life. 

Tight congressional oversight

The legislation would impose extensive reporting requirements on the administration.

Within 60 days, the secretary of state would have to submit a strategy explaining how stabilization and security funds would expand state services and political participation. Within 90 days, the administration would have to provide a stabilization strategy covering issues including Syrian refugees, the transition from the U.N. peacekeeping mission UNIFIL, international donors, reconstruction and safeguards against diversion of aid.

Additional reports would address the use and monitoring of reconstruction funds, proxy threats, Captagon trafficking, potential collusion between Lebanese security personnel and Hezbollah, disarmament, Iranian financing, banking reform, coordination between the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israeli military, relations between Lebanon and Israel, and humanitarian needs. 

The bill would also require reporting on the effect of salary and livelihood support on the retention and readiness of Lebanese security personnel.

Among the issues subject to recurring scrutiny would be the implementation of Lebanon's banking reforms, including the April 2025 bank-secrecy law, banking restructuring legislation and the allocation of losses in the financial sector.

Refugees, UNIFIL and southern Lebanon

The legislation would require the administration to address the "safe, informed, durable, and voluntary return" of Syrian refugees from Lebanon to their home communities.

It would also call for U.S. efforts to encourage countries contributing troops to UNIFIL to transfer equipment, vehicles and facilities to the Lebanese Armed Forces when the peacekeeping mission's mandate ends under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2790.

The measure places particular emphasis on southern Lebanon, requiring the administration to address reconstruction needs south of the Litani River and the risk that assistance could be diverted to Hezbollah or other armed non-state groups. 

Banking reform and relations with Israel

The bill extends beyond security assistance by linking Lebanon's institutional recovery to banking reform and the country's future relationship with Israel.

Congressional reporting would cover progress toward peaceful relations between Lebanon and Israel, actors obstructing negotiations, and steps to suspend or repeal Lebanese anti-normalization laws, including Law 1/1955 and related criminal and military-justice provisions.

The legislation would also support U.S.-facilitated coordination and deconfliction between the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defense Forces.

For ALPI-PAC, those provisions form part of a broader strategy rather than separate policy initiatives.

"S. 5356 directly advances ALPI-PAC's core policy principles," the organization said, citing Hezbollah disarmament, exclusive state authority over arms, support for Lebanese institutions, implementation of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, sanctions against obstructors and Iranian financing networks, accountable reconstruction and stronger U.S.-Lebanon-Israel coordination. 

ALPI-PAC urges bipartisan passage

ALPI-PAC called on both chambers of Congress to move the legislation forward and fully fund the programs authorized by it.

The organization said the bill should be viewed not simply as an aid package but as a broader framework for restoring Lebanese sovereignty.

"S. 5356 offers Lebanon a significant opportunity: sustained American support for its legitimate institutions, security forces, communities, and reconstruction," the statement said. "In return, it requires measurable progress toward the defining objective of Lebanese sovereignty: one state, one lawful authority, and one legitimate national defense structure." 

ALPI-PAC also called for clear disarmament benchmarks, sustained support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces, protections for civilians, depositors and legitimate businesses, transparent reconstruction through national and municipal institutions, strict safeguards against diversion of aid, and international burden sharing during the transition from UNIFIL.

The group said its advisory council could provide independent input during implementation by connecting U.S. policymakers with Lebanese institutions, experts, municipalities, civil society and affected communities. Its proposed role would remain advisory and nongovernmental, with no authority to administer U.S. funds or make official government certifications. 

The legislation remains subject to congressional consideration and could be amended during the legislative process. ALPI-PAC noted that the introduced bill, rather than congressional or media summaries, is the controlling text and identified a technical cross-reference in its reporting provisions that may require correction.

For ALPI-PAC, the central proposition remains straightforward: U.S. support should be sustained, but its implementation should be tied to verifiable results.

"Lebanon's sovereignty" the organization concluded, depends on the principle that "only the Lebanese state may possess and exercise armed authority."