- 7 febr 2011
Ghajar withdrawal on hold
Israel freezes plan to pull out of border village of Ghajar as result of toppling of Lebanese government, tensions over Hariri report, official in Jerusalem says. 'We won't be giving Hezbollah free gifts,' he says.
Some three months ago, the Security Cabinet approved a plan to withdraw Israeli forces from the northern part of Ghajar, an Arab village that straddles the Lebanese border. However, an official in Jerusalem says the plan is now on hold due to recent changes in the region.
Namely, Hezbollah toppled the Lebanese government and tensions are high in preparation for the United Nations' report on the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri .
"We don't want to give the Hezbollah government free gifts," an official in Jerusalem told Ynet on Sunday, and it seems that for the time being the plan to withdraw from Ghajar has been frozen.
According to the ministers' decision back in November 2010, the IDF was to withdraw from the northern part of the village and leave it under the UN's authority, redeploying Israeli forces on the southern side of the border.
The Cabinet ordered the Foreign Ministry to complete negotiations with the UN force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, as soon as possible "while maintaining the regional security of Israel and the quality of life of village residents". Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said at the time the plan would be executed within a few weeks.
Ghajar border
However, months have gone by and nothing has changed, with IDF soldiers still deployed in the Lebanese village. "The idea was to boost the moderates, not the extremists," the Jerusalem official said. "Today it's problematic to hand over Ghajar to the Hezbollah government. We are discussing the matter with the UN and UNIFIL. Back in December we couldn't have predicted the current instability and Hezbollah toppling the government."
The Foreign Ministry is continuing to prepare the village for withdrawal while debating exactly how to handle recent developments, including the riots in Egypt that forced Israel to reprioritize. According to the Ministry's evaluation, the Ghajar plan might be presented once again to the Security Cabinet within a few months for additional approval. "Nothing will happen before the Hariri report comes out," the Israeli official estimated.
The Foreign Ministry refused to issue an official response to the story.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4024810,00.html 6 jun 2011, 23:00 , Respect -
Maria 16 febr 2011
Bibi to Nasrallah: Stay in your bunker
PM takes jab at Hezbollah leader, who earlier threatened to take over northern Israel in future war. 'Anyone who's hiding in a bunker should say in the bunker," Netanyahu says, expresses confidence in IDF.
Israeli response to Hezbollah: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his speech Wednesday evening at the Conference of Presidents in Jerusalem to send a personal message to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, urging him to stay in his bunker.
Earlier Wednesday, Nasrallah threatened to take over Israel's Galilee region in a future war, and also explicitly threatened to harm senior Israeli figures.
While delivering his English-language speech to American Jewish leaders, Netanyahu switched to Hebrew, saying: "Anyone who's hiding in a bunker should say in the bunker."
"Nobody should doubt Israel's or our ability to defend ourselves," the prime minister added. "We have a powerful army. We want peace with all our neighbors, yet the IDF is prepared to powerfully defend Israel against all our enemies."
Egypt uncertainty
During his speech, the prime minister also addressed recent Middle East turmoil and especially events in Egypt, saying that nobody knows what is in store for Cairo. Officials in Washington or Tehran do not know what lies ahead, Netanyahu said, adding that the New York Times doesn't know either, thus taking a jab at commentator Tom Friedman who recently criticized the PM in his column.
Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed that the West is interested in seeing a free, democratic and peace-seeking Egypt that looks forward to the future. However, he warned that Iranian leaders wish to see another kind of Egypt, which tramples on human rights and is dominated by Tehran.
"They don't want an Egypt that looks into the 21st Century, but rather, an Egypt that looks back to the 9th Century," he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4029807,00.html
Hezbollah warns Israel against war
Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has downplayed Israel's latest threat of invasion, saying Tel Aviv will pay a heavy price if it imposes another war on Lebanon.
Addressing a gathering marking the group's martyrs' day on Wednesday, Hezbollah chief said that Lebanon's resistance fighters are ready to take the strategic Galilee region, north of Israel, should another war with Israel breaks out.
Nasrallah's remarks came shortly after Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israeli armed forces may cross into the southern Lebanese territory again and engage in a military confrontation with Hezbollah.
He said Israel has never had a reliable and realistic evaluation about Hezbollah's power, which has resulted in the failure of Tel Aviv's policies toward the resistance movement.
The popular Shia leader also urged Israeli officials to learn from their previous mistakes and stop the impossible imagination of defeating Hezbollah.
Israel fought a 33-day war against Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 to destroy the military power of the Lebanese resistance. Tel Aviv was eventually forced to leave the region without achieving any of its objectives and after suffering a humiliating defeat.
The carnage destroyed most of Lebanon's infrastructure and claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Lebanese -- mainly civilians -- and more than 160 Israelis -- mostly soldiers.
During his speech, Nasrallah also hailed the popular uprising in Egypt and described the fall of Hosni Mubarak's government as a huge loss for the US and Israel, saying Mubarak's regime had helped Tel Aviv for years to tighten the grip on Palestinians.
The Hezbollah secretary general stressed that resistance movements in the region are a natural reaction of people to the West's hegemony.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/165543.html
Israel threatens new war on Lebanon
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli war minister Ehud Barak threatened during a tour of the northern 1948 occupied Palestine borders on Tuesday with the new chief of staff Benny Gantz to launch a new war on Lebanon.
Barak told the Israeli forces deployed along the borders that calm was currently prevailing because Hizbullah realized "our power of deterrence".
He added, however, that the situation would not perpetuate and "we might be asked to enter Lebanon anew".
Barak said that the Israeli army should be always ready for any possibility and to retaliate within seconds if anything happened.
http://bit.ly/igwpxz
Israel troops may 'have to re-enter' Lebanon
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's army may enter Lebanon again to ensure Hezbollah remembers the lessons of the 2006 war, Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted as saying in an Israeli newspaper Wednesday.
"Even though it's quiet and deterrence exists -- Hezbollah remembers the heavy beating they suffered from us in 2006 -- but it is not forever, and you may be called to enter again," Barak said during a tour of the northern border with the new military Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.
His remarks, which referred to Israel's deadly 34-day war with the powerful Lebanese Shiite militia, were reported by the Haaretz newspaper.
"We must be prepared for every test," Barak told troops stationed along the frontier. "The secret is reacting fast in the event that something happens, and within seconds, translating everything you learned in your training."
The 2006 war killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=360443 7 jun 2011, 09:58 , Respect -
Maria 17 febr 2011
Hezbollah: US, Israel interests waning
Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah
Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says the United States and Israel are the biggest losers of recent developments in the region.
The leader of the Lebanese resistance movement said on Wednesday the recent revolution in Egypt has mostly affected the US and Israeli interests and decreased their regional influence.
Nasrallah lauded the Egypt revolution, saying that it was the will of the Egyptian youth that toppled the pro-Western regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
Hezbollah's secretary general reiterated that resistance movements in the region are a natural popular reaction to the West's hegemony.
He said that all are aware of Mubarak's stance on Israel's devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip at the turn of 2009 and the regime's war on Lebanon in July 2006.
Mubarak supported the Israelis then and was disappointed by the victory of the resistance, he stressed.
Nasrallah said the US mission in the Middle East is to protect its interest and those of Israel. The more a system in an Arab country is closer to Israel, the more it is closer to the US.
Addressing US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the situation in the Middle East, he said Israel is the root of all problems in the region.
Nasrallah recalled how the Israeli army occupied Palestinian territories over sixty year ago and drove out the rightful owners of the land.
Now the biggest losers are the United States, Israel and their allies from Arab states, he noted.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/165604.html 9 jun 2011, 11:47 , Respect -
Maria 18 febr 2011
Lebanon sentences Israel spy to death
A military court in Lebanon has sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of spying for Israel's intelligence service, Mossad.
According to the charge sheet, Amin Ibrahim al-Baba, a Lebanese, was convicted of providing Mossad with information that aided Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 2006.
"A military court has sentenced Amin Ibrahim al-Baba to death ... for contacting Israeli intelligence and providing information that aided Israeli attacks on Lebanon," a judicial official told AFP on Friday.
He was also found guilty of spying on Lebanon's Hezbollah Resistance Movement and the Islamic Jihad for several years and passing on the sensitive information about the movements to Israel in return for money.
The charge sheet said the information that Baba had transferred to Mossad facilitated the assassination of brothers Mahmud and Nidal Mazjoub of the Islamic Jihad movement in 2006.
He was also found guilty of entering Lebanon's archenemy, Israel. Lebanon and Israel are technically in a state of war.
Baba, 44, was arrested in the southern coastal city of Sidon in April 2006, when Beirut launched a nationwide crackdown on Israeli spy cells.
So far, more than 100 people, including members of the country's security forces and telecommunications personnel, have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel's notorious intelligence service.
A number of the suspects have admitted to their role in helping Israel identify targets inside Lebanon, mostly belonging to Hezbollah, which Tel Aviv heavily bombed during its 2006 war against the country.
If convicted, the spies will face life sentences with hard labor. Should they be found guilty of contributing to the loss of Lebanese life, the agents will face the capital punishment.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/165837.html
Barakah: If Galilee is liberated, refugees are ready and waiting to return to th
BEIRUT, (PIC)-- Ali Barakah, Hamas's representative in Lebanon, welcomed the speech of Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hizbullah, in which he said that his resistance fighters were prepared to liberate Galilee if Israel launched a war against Lebanon.
In a written statement he said that his movement welcomes the stand which Nasrallah declared during his speech on martyred leaders remembrance day in Beirut and in which he stressed that the resistance was prepared to liberate Galilee in northern Palestine if Israel declared war against Lebanon.
Barakah added that his movement believes that resistance was the only way that could lead to the liberation of Palestine and the restoration of rights and holy places.
He also stressed that Hamas stands by the Lebanese people, army and resistance to repel any Zionist new aggression, adding that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are ready to return immediately to their home in Galilee if and when it is liberated.
http://bit.ly/gFh4mt 10 jun 2011, 11:00 , Respect -
Maria 22 febr 2011
Lebanese labor law to provide 'decent life' to Palestinian retirees
BEIRUT, (PIC)-- Lebanese Minister of Labor Boutros Harb pledged to sign Monday a bill passed by the parliament in August that would organize the country's labor laws concerning Palestinian refugees.
The bill was designed to guarantee a decent life for Palestinian workers without conflicting with the natural rights of Lebanese workers.
Harb had worked jointly with the International Labor Organization to come up with an agrement for a retirement system and social protection project to be announced at a press conference next Tuesday.
Unsatisfied with the end-of-service indemnity system, which he said did not ensure the social security of laborers, Harb said he would discuss conversion to the said retirement plan which would provide pensions and health care for laborers who spend their lifetime serving society and reach the age of retirement.
UN Relief and Works Agency Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi said he would cooperate with Lebanon to guarantee a decent life of Palestinian refugees there without infringing on their right of return.
http://bit.ly/fUEDVe 19 jun 2011, 09:24 , Respect -
Maria 25 febr 2011
Lebanon Grants Palestinian Refugees More Work Permissions
The Lebanese government started to implement the new labor and social security law which allows Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to occupy more jobs.
This adjustment is expected to enhance the living conditions of Palestinians in Lebanon and decreases their suffering.
On the 18th of August 2010, the Lebanese Parliament adjusted the 59th article of the Lebanese labor law, related to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. They are now allowed to work in the private sector in at least 72 professions that they were forbidden to work in previously.
The Parliament has also adjusted the 9th article on social security law allowing Palestinians to benefit from the end of service indemnity like their Lebanese counterparts.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the adjustments and stressed that Palestine and Lebanon enjoy very good diplomatic relations.
There are approximately 350,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon alone. This makes up about 10% of the Lebanese population.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60715 21 jun 2011, 10:54 , Respect -
Maria 27 febr 2011
Jihad slams Lebanese gov`t for changing law concerning Palestinian refugees
BEIRUT, (PIC)-- The Islamic Jihad Movement said that the amendment made to the law of labor and social security in Lebanon only serves the policy of resettlement that is rejected by the Palestinian people, calling on the Lebanese government and parliament to reconsider this law.
In a press release on Saturday, Islamic Jihad emphasized that this decision would augment the suffering of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and increase their financial and social burdens.
It stressed the need for giving the Palestinian refugees full rights in order to confront all conspiracies aimed at resettling them in Lebanon.
The Movement criticized Lebanese minister of labor Boutros Harb for deciding to bring the law of Palestinian labor into effect, noting that the law, regardless of the media propaganda about it, was disappointing to the Palestinian refugees and did not meet their minimum rights.
The Movement underscored that the adoption of the refugees just rights is the only step that could strengthen their steadfastness in the face of resettlement schemes and fait accompli policies.
http://bit.ly/hmjO4T 24 jun 2011, 10:54 , Respect -
Maria 2 mrt 2011
'Israel sole enemy of Lebanon'
Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi
Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi has underscored the importance of mutual understanding between Lebanese Parties against Beirut's 'arch foe,' Tel Aviv.
Roknabadi urged all Lebanese groups and political factions on Tuesday to reach an understanding and spare no efforts to confront the Israeli regime.
All sides should mobilize efforts against Israel so that the regime would not dare to take action against any country in the region, particularly Lebanon, Mehr news agency quoted Roknabadi as saying.
The Iranian diplomat stressed that the formation of a Lebanese government is a domestic issue and expressed hope for the immediate establishment of a new administration with unanimous consensus for the benefit of all.
Iran calls on all sides to engage in dialogue and show solidarity and mutual understanding, he said.
He further pointed out that the Islamic Republic regards Israel as the sole enemy of Lebanon.
Former Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri's government collapsed due to a dispute over the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is investigating the 2005 assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, who was killed along with 22 other people in a bombing in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The Lebanese government fell apart when 11 ministers from Hezbollah and its allies resigned in protest against Hariri's refusal to hold an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss abandoning the US-sponsored STL.
The tribunal has been denounced by many political parties in Lebanon, including the Hezbollah resistance movement, for ignoring evidence of the Israeli involvement in the terror case as well as relying on false witnesses regarding the incident.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/167787.html 24 jun 2011, 14:27 , Respect -
Maria 5 mrt 2011
Lebanon's Cabinet & Tribunal Standoff-Mideast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vRwOKfpvJo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtg6p31zz-8
Lebanon appears to be going through its series of nonstop crises. Lately, the March 14 coalition has refused to take part in the next cabinet headed by Prime Minister designate Najib Mikati. Caretaker premier Saad Hariri has even accused Hezbollah of using their arms to put pressure on Mikati.
In another development, special tribunal for Lebanon prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has started requests to obtain Lebanese documents. How will the next cabinet deal with this highly controversial issue in light of regional transformations?
9 mrt 2011
Massive Lebanon sit-in protesting UNRWA refugee services decline
BEIRUT, (PIC)-- The alliance of Palestinian forces in Lebanon has called for public support for a large scale sit-in condemning the decline of services the UN Relief Works Agency has been providing to Palestinian refugees in Arab host countries.
The curtailment of services followed the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords and was apparently aimed at aiding the Mideast peace process.
The protests are set to kick off 10am Friday near the UNRWA main headquarters in Lebanon in Beer Hassan across from Sports City, organised by popular committees and Palestinian civil organizations in Lebanon.
The alliance held a meeting in the Beirut Mar Elias refugee camp on Wednesday to discuss the refugee situation, calling on the UN, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League to shoulder responsibilities towards refugees suffering from both the Israeli occupation and the failures of the UNRWA.
More than 30,000 Palestinian refugees from the Nahar al-Barid refugee camp have been displaced from their camp, the alliance said, illustrating the current situation.
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have notoriously been denied the most basic rights.
http://bit.ly/hHs1t3 25 jun 2011, 12:44 , Respect -
Maria 5 apr 2011
Israeli spy suspect arrested in Beirut
Lebanon's security forces have reportedly detained a Lebanese citizen on suspicion of espionage for Israel in a mainly Christian area of east Beirut.
A Lebanese citizen was arrested on charges of cooperation with the Mossad, Israel's spy agency, Lebanon's police said, IRNA reported on Tuesday.
Last Month, Lebanese security forces also arrested a man on suspicion of espionage for Israel in line with Beirut's resolve to counter espionage activities.
The unnamed suspect, detained on March 21, has been charged with closely monitoring the situation in Lebanon and providing information about different sects' relations and views on the Hezbollah resistance movement.
Lebanon considers itself to be in a state of war with Israel and bans any contact with the Tel Aviv regime.
Lebanon has recently stepped up efforts to disband spy groups working for the Mossad.
More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Mossad since April 2009, including members of the country's security forces and telecommunications personnel.
All have been accused of providing Israel with intelligence on Hezbollah.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173183.html 26 jun 2011, 20:20 , Respect -
Maria 8 apr 2011
Lebanese protest US convoy visit again
People in the Lebanese city of Sidon have once again taken to the streets to protest against a visit by a group of US embassy staff in Beirut, calling them Israeli conspirators.
In the second such incident in a week, around 60 people gathered outside a government building in Sidon and pelted stones as the US embassy convoy drove by chanting Americans, Israeli conspirators, in our government offices.
The US embassy official confirmed the incident and said that no one was injured, but some car-windows were shattered, AFP reported.
We had a security delegation that had a pre-scheduled meeting with the head of the Internal Security Forces in Sidon, the official said. He declined to give further details.
Last Saturday, a similar incident occurred when Lebanese youth threw stones and bottles at a US embassy group who were visiting Sidon, Lebanon's third largest city.
A spontaneous rally happened in protest at a US convoy's unexpected visit to the city. The protesters who were provoked by the scene of the convoy's resting in a cafe in the city, with guards flaunting their weapons, started to chant anti-US slogans, and shouted Leave Sidon, and The US is unwelcome in South Lebanon, a Press TV correspondent in Beirut reported.
The protesters had asked, Why does the US convoy pay unexpected visits? What are their claims? And what is the Lebanese government's reaction?
The Lebanese armed forces who also pointed guns at the protesters, detained three college students and kept them in custody till Thursday only to find out that another US convoy had come to their hometown and had been greeted with a similar protest, the correspondent said.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173654.html 27 jun 2011, 18:19 , Respect -
Maria 10 apr 2011
Hezbollah hails ties with Iran, Syria
Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah
Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has defended the Lebanese resistance movement's close ties with Iran and Syria.
Nasrallah delivered a speech late on Saturday in which he said that Hezbollah is proud of its relations with the two countries, the Fars News Agency reported.
"We are allied with Iran and Syria, and we have nothing to hide," Nasrallah stated, adding that Hezbollah cannot remain silent when a state that is helping Lebanon is criticized.
He also censured former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri for his recent anti-Iran comments, noting that Hariri's criticism of Tehran resembles Israel's language.
He condemned the Hariri camp's hatred of Hezbollah, noting that the goal of the Hariri-led bloc is to destroy Hezbollah.
He also said Hezbollah's only crime is that it is a thorn in Israel's side.
On Thursday, Hezbollah issued a statement, saying that Hariri's policies do not serve the interests of the Lebanese nation and are part of a US scheme aimed at sowing the seeds of discord among regional countries.
"Such stances are in line with apparent efforts aimed at diverting public attention from US meddling in the internal affairs of regional countries, diminishing the people's desire for freedom and liberation from US hegemony, and diverting [attention] from Israeli crimes committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," the statement read.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173970.html 30 jun 2011, 13:31 , Respect -
Maria 16 apr 2011
Report: IDF official warns Hezbollah against firing rockets at Israel
London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported that a senior official in the IDF Northern Command warned Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon that if they launch rockets at Israel, "The response against them and the area from which they fired the rocket will be harsh.
"The IDF is not responsible for any damage caused to civilians in these villages, because they must not allow Hezbollah to use them as human shields for their own partisan goals," the official was quoted as saying.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4057502,00.html 30 jun 2011, 13:31 , Respect -
Maria 17 apr 2011
Israel Threatens to Destroy 150 Lebanese Villages
A Northern "Israeli" Command security source warned 150 Hizbullah field commanders of retaliation in case Hizbullah launches any missiles, after "Israel" claimed Hizbullah is leading activities in 150 villages in South Lebanon.
The warning stated that if any rocket was launched from any house or area in the said 150 southern villages, the "Israeli" army will then destroy every house or building from where the rockets are launched.
The Zionist security source added that the "Israeli" army is not responsible for any harm which might affect to the citizens of the Lebanese southern villages.
The same source affirmed that the situation in the area is fragile, and could explode any moment, adding that the "Israeli" enemy does not seeks another war with Hizbullah, but will not stay still before any missile threatening the Zionist population.
http://fwd4.me/znS
Hezbollah opens resistance museum
A Lebanese girl holds up posters of two Hezbollah martyrs, military commander Imad Mughniyeh (R) and former Hezbollah Secretary General Sheik Abbas al-Musawi.
Hezbollah has opened a center and museum to collect the personal belongings of martyrs killed in the resistance against Israel as part of an effort to counter anti-resistance propaganda.
At the inauguration of the Ehyaa (Revival) center on Saturday, Hezbollah Executive Council Chairman Seyyed Hashem Safiyeddine commented on the many years of cultural pressure imposed upon the resistance, a Press TV correspondent reported.
He also pointed to the policies driven by the United States, Israel's closest ally, to distort the image of the resistance.
"The latest media leaks showing the cooperation between the March 14 figures and US officials conspiring at a distance are the evidence of the extent to which these people will go to weaken the resistance," Safiyeddine said.
"But it was the culture of resistance that led to our victory and the defeat of Israel," he added.
The center's director, Moussa Daher, said the museum is dedicated to commemorating "the history and spirituality of the martyrs."
"Thanks to these martyrs, we have reached a stage where everybody is living free and feeling strong," he stated.
Over the past four years, a group of volunteers have gathered all the documents and artifacts they were able to collect, with the knowledge and approval of the families of the martyrs, in an attempt to revive what is now known as the culture of resistance.
The objects on display vary from personal rifles, cell phones, college research papers, and even art works and crafts created by the children of the martyrs.
The documents were belongings of people who were martyred in the early years of the resistance, the Israel-Lebanon war of 1982, the 33-day war of 2006, and later incidents.
Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in Damascus in February 2008, is one of the most noteworthy resistance figures commemorated at the museum.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/175203.html 1 jul 2011, 08:16 , Respect -
Maria 8 mei 2011
Hezbollah slams new UN bid to disarm it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGobPmlRDiw
Hezbollah has taken a swipe at a recent UN briefing on the outdated Resolution 1559, describing the move as part of a hostile effort against the Lebanese resistance movement.
The reaction came after the UN's Special Representative for the Implementation of Resolution 1559, Terje Roed-Larsen, delivered a report on the document before the Security Council in a closed door session on Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Resolution 1559 was adopted by the Security Council in 2004, months before the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. It was co-sponsored by the US and France under Presidents George W. Bush and Jack Chirac during a period of intense animosity between the West and Syria.
In addition to demanding the disarmament of Hezbollah, the resolution also called for demarcating the border between Syria and Lebanon and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, which was carried out early in 2005.
The Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah slammed the briefing as unjust and biased, describing Roed-Larsen as an "international official servant in the Zionist media system that reflects the full participation of hostility towards the Resistance, Lebanon, Arabs and all just causes in the world."
“The Secretary General remains convinced that the disarmament of the armed groups in Lebanon, in particular Hezbollah, can best be achieved by a Lebanese-led political process,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Roed-Larsen has delivered more than a dozen such reports to the Security Council, although 1559 was rendered obsolete by Resolution 1701, which was drafted with the intent to resolve the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, triggered by a major Israeli attack against the Lebanese soil with the announced objective of taking out the Hezbollah resistance.
Roed-Larson's efforts to deliver briefings on an outdated resolution have raised serious questions among observers.
“The Security Council members want him to remain. The Secretary General wants him to remain. The major player, the United States, wants of course this 1559 to stay on in order to bring pressure on the resistance of Lebanon. They want to disarm the Hezbollah and they want pressure so they use these occasions in order to force such disarmaments,” Nizar Abboud of Lebanese daily al-Akhbar said.
Abboud adds that the recent events across the Arab world make Roed-Larsen's work as the special envoy for Lebanon even more redundant.
Roed-Larsen has also labeled Lebanon as a dangerous place, where he reportedly does not visit -- which brings into question the sources of the information comprising his biannual reports to the Security Council.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/178826.html