Ban: Illegal arms regularly reach Hezbollah via Syrian border
By Reuters Last update - 13:33 08/05/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/857129.html

UNITED NATIONS - Illegal arms traffic into Lebanon across the Syrian border,
mainly to Hezbollah fighters, is reported to be taking place on a regular
basis, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.

In a report to the UN Security Council, Ban said news of arms shipments,
including "detailed and substantial" reports from Israel, and other nations,
showed the need for a team he was sending to propose ways of monitoring of
the border.

"Such transfers are alleged to be taking place on a regular basis," Ban
wrote. "I am deeply worried that the political crisis in Lebanon may be
deepened and exacerbated" by arms smuggling, most of which are reported to
reach the opposition Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah movement.

The secretary-general was reporting on resolution 1559, adopted in 2004 that
called for all foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon and for the Beirut
government to assert its control throughout the country. Two years ago all
Syrian troops left Lebanon.

Syria has repeatedly denied any involvement in arms trafficking and told
Ban, during his April 24 trip to Damascus, that it would work with the
United Nations toward "peace and stability" in the region.

Ban also singled out Israel Air Force jets and unmanned aerial overflights
and said again he had asked the government to "cease fully" these
"violations of Lebanon sovereignty."

Lebanon is going through its worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil
war, marked by a series of murders of anti-Syrian figures, which many in the
government blame on Damascus. Syria has denied involvement.

Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, says it gained strength when Israel
invaded last summer in retaliation for the abduction of two Israel Defense
Force reserve soldiers in a cross-border raid. Hezbollah and other
pro-Syrian political figures call the current pro-Western government
illegal.

Ban noted that the prolonged political crisis has paralyzed Lebanon, raising
fears that agreements in the aftermath of the civil war "may unravel, lead
to widespread rearming and thus raise the specter of renewed confrontation"
among Lebanese.

"I am concerned that the existing public and media discourse - whether based
on evidence or speculative - may in fact accelerate, if not prompt, a
domestic arms race in Lebanon, with unforeseeable consequences," Ban warned.

Ban, in his report, stressed the necessity of demarcating the
Lebanese-Syrian border and for diplomatic relations to be established
between Beirut and Damascus as an "important measure to affirm strict
respect for Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity and political
independence."

He also said that there was a growing threat from armed "extremist Islamist
groups" who have found safe haven in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.