BEIRUT, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Lebanon's army has tightened controls around the posts of a pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrilla group which faces pressure to disarm under the terms of a U.N. Security Council resolution, security sources said on Thursday.
Army units erected checkpoints and beefed up its presence around the positions of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) in al-Naemeh, just south of Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley, the sources said. They were speaking on condition of anonymity and did not give further details. Palestinian sources said the army's move was unusual and described it as politically motivated.
The Security Council's resolution 1559 demands the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia, a reference to the Hizbollah guerrilla group and Palestinian factions. U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen discussed the issue of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo on Wednesday in relation to resolution 1559, a U.N. official in Beirut told Reuters. He gave no further details on the meeting's outcome.
Resolution 1559 was passed in 2004, demanding the withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence from Lebanon and the disarmament of all militia gropups. Syria pulled its troops out in April 2005, 2 months after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri which sparked a wave of protests. |