UN Chief Urges End to Lebanese Interference in Syria

Lebanese Prime Minister and Leader of the Future Movement Party Saad Hariri attends the Ministerial meeting "Lebanon, building trust: a viable security for the country and the region" on the support of the Lebanese security forces, at Foreign ministry headquarters, Farnesina palace, in Rome on Mar. 15, 2018. (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged all Lebanese parties to stop meddling in the Syrian conflict, in a report naming the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“The presence of unauthorized weapons in the hands of Hezbollah remains of serious concern and warrants condemnation,” the secretary-general said in a quarterly report distributed to Security Council members ahead of a debate set for Tuesday.

On Syria, Guterres said, “no progress was achieved with respect to the disarmament of armed groups.”

“The maintenance of arms outside the control of the state by Hezbollah and other groups continues to restrict the ability of the government of Lebanon to exercise full sovereignty and authority over its territory,” he added.

“Hezbollah continued to acknowledge publicly that it maintains its military capacity.”

Noting that “crises in the region continue to pose a risk to Lebanon’s stability,” Guterres said he was still “concerned” about “almost daily” Israeli overflights of Lebanese territory in violation of a U.N. resolution and Lebanese sovereignty.

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In the area of operations of the U.N.’s UNIFIL mission in southern Lebanon, involving some 10,500 troops, the situation “remained generally calm.”

The U.N. chief also hailed the mission’s increased visibility and activities aimed at halting hostilities.

At the Rome II conference in the Italian capital Thursday, talks touched on Lebanon’s plan to form a Model Regiment for south Lebanon to take a more active role alongside and even replace some of the responsibilities of UNIFIL peacekeepers.

Washington, which is involved in a major diplomatic offensive to counter Iranian influence in the Middle East, is expected to reprise the accusations against Hezbollah at Tuesday’s debate.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last month that Israel would not allow Iran to put a “noose of terror” around its neck and it could act not just against Iran’s proxies, but Iran itself.

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Israeli and U.S. officials have claimed that Iran is helping Hezbollah build factories to manufacture precision-guided missiles or refit its longer-range missiles with precision guidance systems.

When asked about the claims Thursday, the group’s deputy head told Reuters, “We [Hezbollah] don’t talk about the military details, be it our capabilities or those of our allies ... we don’t want to give a free gift to our enemy.”

At the Security Council, Israel’s staunch ally the United States is nonetheless limited by Russia, which also holds veto power.

Moscow has recently defended Tehran’s maneuvers in Yemen by vetoing a condemnation of the Islamic Republic for allegedly supplying ballistic missiles to Houthi rebels despite an arms embargo.

Moscow questioned the findings by a U.N. panel of experts that concluded in January that Iran was in violation of an arms embargo after determining that missiles fired by the Houthis at Saudi Arabia last year were made in Iran.

This article has been adapted from its original source.