| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Hezbollah slams UN ‘interference' in Lebanon |
| 2010-05-01 |
| BEIRUT - Hezbollah on Friday slammed “interference' in Lebanese affairs by UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen and warned that its arsenal was off-limits after the diplomat accused militias of creating tension in Lebanon. They really don't like it when a UN official points out the obvious ... “Hezbollah condemns this attempt to create dissent and sedition among the Lebanese under the guise of advice and guidance,' the Shiite militant party said in a statement. “Roed-Larsen's continuous attempts to interfere in Lebanese affairs and incite the Lebanese to fight one another are unacceptable for an international official working for peace in the region,' it said. On Thursday the UN envoy had warned of the need to address the presence in Lebanon of heavily armed militias, which he said was a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in 2004. The resolution calls for “the disbanding and disarmament' of all militias in the country. “As long as these unresolved issues are there, for instance the existence of heavily armed militias in Lebanon... there will always be tension,' Roed-Larsen said after briefing the Security Council on a report on the implementation of Resolution 1559. But the Syria- and Iran-backed Hezbollah warned that its arms were “only to be discussed among the Lebanese as part of a comprehensive national defence strategy, and neither Roed-Larsen nor any other officials, international or not, can interfere.' Hezbollah is the only Lebanese group that did not disarm after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, arguing that its weapons were necessary to fight Israel. |
| Posted by:Steve White |