Illegal arms said to reach Lebanon frequently: UN

United Nations, May 8: Illegal arms traffic into Lebanon across the Syrian border, mainly to Hezbollah fighters, is reported to be taking place on a regular basis, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

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 yesterday. ''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's military 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 Israeli 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.

Reuters>