U.S. says will speed military help to Lebanon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to speed assistance to Lebanon's army but has no plans to increase current military aid to respond to the latest crisis, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

"I know there are a number of things in the pipeline for them and my understanding is that we will be trying to move some of those things through the pipeline in an expedited fashion," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey, who provided no further details.

"There is no new aid, or no new aid program for the Lebanese military. What we have is an ongoing program," Casey told reporters.

Since mid-2006, the United States has given Lebanon about $1.3 billion (668 million pounds) in assistance, of which State Department officials said about $400 million was military aid.

"We have an ongoing military assistance program for Lebanon and that is something that has been active over the past couple of years and has been designed to help the Lebanese military to provide security for the entirety of the country," said Casey.

"We intend to give them the kind of help they need to carry out their mission," he added.

Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, head of the U.S. military's Central Command which is responsible for the Middle East, visited Lebanon on Wednesday and met army commander Lt. Gen. Michel Sleiman and Defense Minister Elias Murr.

"The discussions focused on the continued assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces so it can maintain peace and stability, and safeguard the Lebanese people," the U.S. embassy in Lebanon said in a statement.

Last May, the United States sent ammunition to Lebanon as its army struggled to defeat a group of heavily armed Islamist militants inside a Palestinian refugee camp.

(Reporting by Sue Pleming and Andrew Gray, editing by David Alexander and Alan Elsner)