U.N. Concerned over Reported Hizbullah Arms Build-up
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag has expressed concern over reports that Hizbullah is receiving more weapons.
“What is said about increased build-up of weapons by Hizbullah is a source of concern,” Kaag told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.
“There is no need for me to repeat what was mentioned in the (U.N.) Secretary-General's report on Resolution 1701,” she said.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said in his report on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 in February that “the maintenance of arms by Hizbullah and other groups outside the control of the Lebanese state … continues to restrict the state’s ability to exercise full sovereignty and authority over its territory.”
Israeli officials have consistently reported to the U.N. that “there are significant ongoing arms transfers to Hizbullah across the Lebanese-Syrian border” and that the party “has now amassed an arsenal of over 100,000 missiles and rockets, much of which Israel claims is located in civilian residential areas,” Ban added.
In the interview, which Asharq al-Awsat said was carried out in Beirut two days ago, Kaag reiterated that the international community does not have the intention to naturalize Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Last month, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil snubbed Ban during his two-day visit to Lebanon under the excuse that the international community is pressuring Lebanese authorities into giving the nationality to the displaced Syrians.
Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, or nearly a quarter of the country's 4.5 million people. Another half a million Syrians live in the country as well.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/207023 |