The Lebanese al-Nahar reports this morning that U.N. Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon called upon Syria and Iran to respect the Hizbullah arms embargo. He also lamented Hizbullah’s failure to release the Israeli soldiers it abducted last year.
Ban urged the deployment of “international border security experts” on Lebanon’s border to stop arms smuggling from neighboring Syria. He said that Syria and Iran “have a particular responsibility to ensure that the provisions related to the arms embargo are fully respected.”
He urged Syria and Lebanon to demarcate their common border, and asked Damascus to reconsider its position that a resolution of the dispute over the Shabaa Farms would be possible only after a peace deal with Israel.
Yes, the U.N. chief also called for an end to Israeli incursions into Lebanese airspace. But, he appears to understand the problems on Israel’s northern border better than his predecessor, Kofi Annan, who cozied up to Hizbullah.
