Annan dispatches two envoys to Israel, Lebanon

United Nations, Aug 17: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is sending two high-level envoys to Lebanon and Israel today to assess implementation of the new truce pact between Israeli troops and Hizbollah militia.

The officials, Vijay Nambiar, an senior adviser to Annan, and Terje Roed-Larsen, the top UN envoy on Syria-Lebanon issues, would speak to officials in both countries, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said yesterday.

The trip, Dujarric said, was to help Annan to prepare a report to the Security Council on its resolution adopted last Friday that called for an end to fighting and authorized an expanded UN force of up to 15,000 troops.

But asked if the two UN officials would meet Hizbollah leaders or go to Syria, Dujarric said their full program had not been set yet.

A Norwegian diplomat, Roed-Larsen, on a previous Middle East mission with Nambiar last month, was refused entry to Syria.

Damascus, diplomats said, had barred Roed-Larsen because of his reports on a 2004 Security Council resolution demanding Syrian forces withdraw from Lebanon and militia, such as Hizbollah, disarm.

His reports, before the current crisis, have also cited weapons flowing to Hizbollah across the Syrian border.

Reuters