Hezbollah: Ban biased in 1701 report

Hezbollah slammed U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon Thursday over his latest report to the Security Council on the implementation of Resolution 1701, describing him as biased toward the West and warning that Western hegemony over the international body threatened peace and security. “U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon insists on confirming once again his ultimate bias toward the Western will, which installed him in this international position,” a statement released by Hezbollah said. “Instead, he should be biased toward strengthening peace and security, which is the international organization’s global goal,” Hezbollah said. Ban handed the latest report on the implementation of UNSCR 1701 to the Security Council Tuesday. The top international body will discuss the report on Nov. 29. Resolution 1701 brokered a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon following the July-August war in 2006. Hezbollah criticized Ban for continuing to issue statements that dealt with the situation in Lebanon, “which are influenced by Western allegations stemming from absolute hostility toward the resistance and disregard for the feelings of the Lebanese people.” The U.N. chief’s 17th report contained “fallacies,” Hezbollah said, adding that it “contradicts the simplest facts about the stability of the situation in south Lebanon.” In the U.N. report, Ban criticized Hezbollah as a threat to Lebanon’s stability, and called on the government to hold a national dialogue and work toward a national defense strategy. “The presence of Hezbollah and other armed groups operating outside the control of the state poses a continuous threat to Lebanon’s sovereignty and stability,” he said in the 27-page document, an advance copy of which was obtained by The Daily Star. Hezbollah, however, warned that Western hegemony over the U.N. was a threat to global peace and security. “We believe that United Nations institutions falling under Western domination, particularly the U.S., pose a great danger and threaten international peace and security,” the group said. In his report, Ban expressed concern about the increase in security incidents in Lebanon, the presence of armed groups and the ongoing flow of weapons into the country. “I note with concern the increase in the occurrence of security incidents in Lebanon, which highlights the continuous threat posed by armed groups outside the control of the state and by the proliferation of arms in the country.” He criticized Lebanon for not fulfilling promises made since 2010 to control the country’s borders in order to prevent weapons entering the country, saying the government has a responsibility in controlling its borders. “Despite the commitment expressed by the Lebanese government in January 2010 to adopt a comprehensive national strategy for border management, no progress was made in this respect during the reporting period,” the report said. However, he also added that the U.N. had “neither been provided with, nor found, evidence of the unauthorized transfer of arms into its area of operations,” despite Israeli allegations that Hezbollah has been building up its arsenal and military positions in the area. Ban also raised concerns over poor border delineation in regard to recent Syrian army incursions into Lebanon. “I strongly deplore the violent incursions and raids into Lebanese towns and villages by Syrian security forces that resulted in death and injury,” he said. “The effective management of the border ... continues to be adversely affected by the fact that it is neither delineated nor demarcated,” he said. He urged the immediate activation of a joint Lebanese-Syrian committee to delineate the border, saying the demarcation was “critical to a positive relationship between the two countries.” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti commented on the report Thursday, saying: “Now is the time to reconsider UNIFIL’s mission in Lebanon, after it has been expanding its work in Lebanon for the past five years.” Tenenti also called for improved cooperation between UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army.