U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the rearming of Hizbullah and held both Syria and Iran responsible for breaches of the arms embargo.
“Reports of Hizbullah rearming are a cause of great concern, posing serious challenges to the sovereignty, stability and independence of Lebanon and the implementation of resolution 1701 (2006),” Ban saidi in his 6th report on the implementation 1701.
“I remain concerned about ongoing reports and Hizbullah public statements that point to breaches of the arms embargo, in serious violation of resolution 1701,” he said.
“All Member States in the region, in particular the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran, have a key responsibility in this regard,” Ban added.
“Such violations risk further destabilizing Lebanon and the whole region,” he said.
“In my last report to the Council on the implementation of resolution 1701 … I drew attention to alleged breaches of the arms embargo across the border between Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic and the claimed transfer of sophisticated weaponry from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Syrian Arab Republic across this border,” Ban said.
“In its letter dated 10 December 2007 Syria counters these claims and maintains that allegations of weapons smuggling across the Syrian-Lebanese border are motivated by political rather than security considerations.
“However, Hizbullah, by admission of its leaders on several occasions has replenished its military capacity after the 2006 war with Israel.
“I, therefore, remain concerned that this border remains vulnerable to such breaches, which would represent serious violations of the resolution and constitute a significant threat to the stability and security of Lebanon.
Filed under: News | Tagged: Ban Ki-moon, Hizbullah, lebanon, syria, US
