Watkins: Hizbullah is Keen on Keeping Dialogue with U.N. Open

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins said Thursday that Hizbullah has stressed the need to continue its dialogue with the world body.

In remarks to al-Mustaqbal daily, Watkins said that despite the party’s frustration from some of the remarks made by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon during his visit to Beirut last month, Hizbullah has expressed its respect for “the integrity of the U.N. and the necessity to keep the dialogue open.”

He expressed relief that the world body “can still be capable of holding constructive dialogue” with Hizbullah.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on January 14 that he “felt happy” when he heard that Ban said he was concerned about the party’s military power.

Ban had expressed concern at the military capacity of Hizbullah during a press conference he held a day earlier in Beirut.

Watkins held talks with the head of Hizbullah’s international relations department, Ammar Moussawi, last Friday.

On the security situation in Lebanon, the diplomat said that security officials have expressed to him their hope that the country’s stability would not be affected by the developments in Syria.

The security forces should remain on “high alert,” he told the newspaper, and called for a better monitoring of the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Watkins reiterated the U.N.’s readiness to help the Lebanese government in better monitoring the border.

Asked about the bloody crackdown on Syrian protestors by the Assad regime since last March, the diplomat said: “It’s time to have some consensus at the Security Council.”

Russia has rejected the adoption of a tough Council resolution condemning the violence.