[An Nahar] Hizbullah on Thursday hit back at U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's call for the group to disarm, stressing that "Lebanon has the right to possess weapons to defend its land and sovereignty against Israel's occupation and threats.""Hizbullah stresses that it took up arms to liberate the Lebanese territory, which Ban Ki-moon and his international organization had miserably failed to protect," Hizbullah said in a statement, noting that the U.N. "failed to force the Israeli occupier to withdraw."
In his latest report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah, Ban described Lebanon's security situation as generally stable and reiterated his call on Hizbullah to transform itself into a political party.
The party's arms continue to pose a serious challenge to the state's ability to exercise full sovereignty and authority over its territory, he said.
"It seems that Mr. Ban Ki-moon's eyes cannot see Israel's hostile practices, the same as they cannot see the Judaization of Jerusalem and the occupation's terrorist practices in occupied Palestine," Hizbullah charged.