Global Policy Forum

UN Reports Rising Flow of Arms

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By John Kifner

New York Times
October 27, 2005

October 27, 2005 Lebanon is facing an "increasing influx of weaponry and personnel from Syria" to Palestinian militia groups, a United Nations report said yesterday. The report, the second of two United Nations investigations into Syria's interference in Lebanon, said there had been a remarkable turnabout from Syria's long domination there. Damascus removed its troops last spring after 30 years of occupation following mass demonstrations and international pressure over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Still, the report says, Lebanon has not achieved "tangible results" in disarming the Palestinians and the Shiite Hezbollah militia or in exerting full control over its territory.


The situation remains "volatile," the report warned, citing "a number of worrying developments affecting the stability of Lebanon, particularly in the form of terrorist acts and the illegal transfer of arms and people across the borders into Lebanon." While couched in diplomatic language, the report's clear implication that the Palestinian groups were acting at the behest of Syria appeared certain to increase pressure building against Damascus in the Security Council. The Council's special investigator issued a report last week saying the slaying of Mr. Hariri had been plotted by top-ranking Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officers, including the powerful brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Assad has denied that he or his aides had anything to do with the assassination. He sent a letter to France, Britain and the United States early this week promising to prosecute any Syrian implicated by "concrete evidence."

As the report was being released, Lebanese Army commandos backed by tanks were surrounding several Palestinian bases in the Bekaa region -including one manned by a main Syrian-backed group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command - and setting up roadblocks near the Syrian border. A Lebanese officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the military deployment was a tightening of security because of growing fears that the Palestinian militias were smuggling arms from Syria into the Bekaa. "Things aren't like they used to be in that area, and they are a lot more sensitive and need to be heavily guarded," the officer said.

The report issued yesterday, by the United Nations special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, noted that the Lebanese Army had detained and deported a number of infiltrators of Palestinian origin who carried Syrian identification documents. It said "Lebanon is witnessing a momentous transformation" since September, 2004 when the Security Council adopted Resolution 1559 calling for the Syrian withdrawal and the disarmament of armed groups. The events "have led the people of Lebanon to pierce a wall of silence and speak out loudly and clearly," it said, adding, "Taboos of the past have been broken, and matters previously too sensitive to discuss openly are now the subject of open debate." "Over the past six months, with the first parliamentary elections held after Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon and the formation of a new government, Lebanon has entered a new phase in its history," the report said. But it also noted a series of assassinations and 14 bombings in the last year, for which Lebanese have widely blamed agents of Syria. "As a result of such acts, numerous Lebanese political leaders have chosen to spend prolonged periods of time abroad, for fear of their lives," it said.

The report paid particular attention to the mounting tensions between the Lebanese government and the Damascus-backed Palestinian militias. "Such armed groups have enjoyed relative autonomy inside Palestinian refugee camps, which the Lebanese authorities do not generally enter," it said. "While there has been no fundamental change in the status of such groups, a variety of recent reports has suggested that there has been an increasing influx of weaponry and personnel from Syria to some of these groups," Mr. Roed-Larsen wrote. "The issue has also been raised with me by a number of senior Lebanese and other officials." The leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Ahmed Jibril, was named last week in the United Nations inquiry into Mr. Hariri's killing in February. It said he was part of the group of Syrian and Lebanese officials who planned and executed the huge truck bomb explosion that killed the popular former prime minister-turned-opposition-figure and 22 others. Mr. Jibril's group acts on behalf of Syria.

The report noted that the front had issued a statement on Oct. 4 strongly objecting to the "insistence of certain sides of the Lebanese government" to "hastily enforce Resolution 1559." "The attempt to sacrifice the weapons of the Palestinians of Lebanon in line with Resolution 1559 will not be greeted with silence or compromise," the group's statement said, warning that Lebanon's prime minister, Fouad Seniora, would bear "direct responsibility for the hostile measures against our Palestinian people taken under the cover of a political and media campaign of disinformation." On Oct 7, the Lebanese Army raided "Syrian-headquartered Palestinian armed groups" in the Bekaa seizing weapons, and the Palestinians went on a full alert, the report said. Mr. Roed-Larsen said he had met in Paris with Mr. Seniora and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in which both men "expressed their grave concern over the illegal transfer of arms and people to Palestinian groups in Lebanon." Mr. Abbas, however, does not exert any control over the Syrian-backed groups, which are, in fact, his rivals.

Meanwhile in the diplomatic maneuvering surrounding French and American efforts to put pressure on Syria at the Security Council, Russia said it would block any attempt to impose economic sanctions. "Russia will do everything necessary to stop attempts to introduce sanctions against Syria," a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kalmynin, told the Interfax news agency.


More Information on the Security Council
More Information on Lebanon and Syria
More Information the "War on Terrorism"
More Information Syria

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.