Libanon

[Schneemann]

Hezbollah rejects UN chief's call to disarm

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expresses 'deep concern' about the Shiite group's military arsenal; Hassan Nasrallah says armed resistance to continue. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Saturday that his Shiite group would not disarm, rejecting a call by visiting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. [...]

"It is important for Lebanon to abide by all United Nations resolutions... It is time to put an end to violence and to grant peoples the chance they need for (a) better future," Ban said.

Nasrallah's televised address came as the UN chief visited UN peacekeepers in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was expanded to 12,000 troops after the 2006 war. UNIFIL was last year the target of three attacks that wounded Italian and French peacekeepers. Another point of tension between Hezbollah and the United Nations is a UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a huge blast on Beirut's seafront, and other political killings.

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Schneemann.