UN Official: Hezbollah Actively Maintained 'Arms Cache'
24/07/2009 The UN head of peacekeeping operations Alain Le Roy said there are signs a weapons stockpile that exploded last week in southern Lebanon belonged to Hezbollah, adding that the Resistance party has actively maintained the depot.
In a speech delivered behind closed doors to the Security Council Thursday, Le Roy said that the July 14 explosion marked a "serious violation" of Resolution 1701 which ended the devastating 2006 war launched by the Israeli enemy against Lebanon.
"A number of indications suggest that the depot belonged to Hezbollah, and, in contrast to previous discoveries by UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces of weapons and ammunition, that it was not abandoned but, rather, actively maintained," Le Roy said.
Le Roy's report however dismissed Israeli claims that the weapons were smuggled into Lebanon after the end of the war. "There is no evidence that suggests that the weapons and ammunition present in the building had been smuggled into the UNIFIL area of operations since the adoption of Resolution 1701."
"The type and age of the ammunition that has been identified could be an indication that it was collected and stockpiled in this location over a period of time."
Meanwhile, the UN official claimed that some of the people who sought to prevent UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from investigating the site were Hezbollah members dressed in civilian clothes. "Some of the individuals present at the site of the explosion in the early morning hours of 15 July at the time when UNIFIL was discouraged from accessing the site, were identified to UNIFIL as belonging to Hezbollah," he went on to say.
"In addition, the activities of these individuals appeared to be aimed at removing evidence from the site," Le Roy told the Security Council.
US JOINS ISRAEL IN ACCUSING HEZBOLLAH OF VIOLATING UNSCR 1701
24/07/2009 The UN head of peacekeeping operations Alain Le Roy said there are signs a weapons stockpile that exploded last week in southern Lebanon belonged to Hezbollah, adding that the Resistance party has actively maintained the depot.
In a speech delivered behind closed doors to the Security Council Thursday, Le Roy said that the July 14 explosion marked a "serious violation" of Resolution 1701 which ended the devastating 2006 war launched by the Israeli enemy against Lebanon.
"A number of indications suggest that the depot belonged to Hezbollah, and, in contrast to previous discoveries by UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces of weapons and ammunition, that it was not abandoned but, rather, actively maintained," Le Roy said.
Le Roy's report however dismissed Israeli claims that the weapons were smuggled into Lebanon after the end of the war. "There is no evidence that suggests that the weapons and ammunition present in the building had been smuggled into the UNIFIL area of operations since the adoption of Resolution 1701."
"The type and age of the ammunition that has been identified could be an indication that it was collected and stockpiled in this location over a period of time."
Meanwhile, the UN official claimed that some of the people who sought to prevent UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from investigating the site were Hezbollah members dressed in civilian clothes. "Some of the individuals present at the site of the explosion in the early morning hours of 15 July at the time when UNIFIL was discouraged from accessing the site, were identified to UNIFIL as belonging to Hezbollah," he went on to say.
"In addition, the activities of these individuals appeared to be aimed at removing evidence from the site," Le Roy told the Security Council.
US JOINS ISRAEL IN ACCUSING HEZBOLLAH OF VIOLATING UNSCR 1701
After Le Roy's speech, US Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff joined Israel in accusing Hezbollah of violating the UN weapons embargo in southern Lebanon and undermining the efforts of UN peacekeepers there.
Wolff said a briefing of the Security Council by Le Roy made one thing clear, the investigation was impeded. "What else can you expect when UNFIL and LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) forces are being pelted by stones and the troubling element is that this seemed to be quite organized," he added.
"This was not spontaneous, this was not simply -- as some might suggest -- homeowners who were worried about intrusion on their lands, or homes. This was designed to impede the investigation and there are also indications of providing cover for efforts to remove evidence," Wolff said.
"That violation shows how perilous the situation remains and how important that UNIFIL be supported in its efforts to ensure that there are no arms entering southern Lebanon," Wolff claims, a sign that Washington favors change in the rules of engagement in south Lebanon.
HEZBOLLAH: UNSC DID NOTHING TO STOP ISRAELI VIOLATIONS
Meanwhile, member of the Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Hasan Fadlallah denied Friday Hezbollah had any role in the disturbances and said it was keen to restore relations between UNIFIL and local people to normal.
"The baseless American accusations are a repetition of the Israeli position and an expression of the U.S. administration's support for continuous Israeli aggression against Lebanon via its violations and spy networks," MP Fadlallah told Reuters.
He denied the blast was a violation of resolution 1701, saying it was a one-off accident that involved the explosion of an arms cache that had been in place before the 2006 war.
Fadlallah said the UN Security Council had done nothing to stop Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, including almost daily military flights in breach of 1701.
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