ILC 1559

Your Excellency, H.E. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General, United Nations

THE INTERNATIONAL LEBANESE
COMMITTEE FOR UNSCR 1559           
2300 M Street NW,  Suite 800 Washington, DC 20037
(202) 416 1819  fax(202)  293 3083 
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17th February 2009

H.E. Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General
United Nations
New NY
USA.

Re: Hezbollah is a greater threat to peace in Lebanon and the Middle East now than ever before.

Your Excellency,

The United Nations must take note of statements by Hassan Nasrallah made on Feb 16th, that his militia will acquire or may have already acquired anti aircraft batteries. The whole world heard, loud and very clear through international and local media that Mr. Nasrallah doesn't want to abide by binding United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) calling on all terrorist militias including his own to disarm. Worse, Mr. Nasrallah has publicly stated that he has obtained and will use anti aircraft weapons systems on Lebanese territories. This is a flagrant breach of UNSCR 1559 and 1701, both of which call clearly for the disarming and discontinuing of arms shipments.

We call on the international community which has an obligation to ask the Lebanese Government to investigate Statements made by Nasrallah. Further, we ask the United Nations (UN) to send a fact finding mission to Lebanon to check the smuggling and deployment of these forbidden weapons.
It is also essential that UNIFIL, which is charged with the implementation of UNSCR 1701, conducts its own investigation in those areas under its own jurisdiction while the Lebanese Army, empowered by UNSCR 1559, must investigate the deployment of these weapons in the rest of the country.
The UN is spending significant amounts on deploying UN troops in Lebanon. The Nasrallah statements are a direct attack and ridicule of the United Nations Security Council by asserting that he will breach UN resolutions which are being implemented by the UNIFIL.

The Civil Society in Lebanon can longer tolerate the threat of war, but it too is being subjected to threats of aggression under the gun; and if any action is undertaken to express their desire for peace, they are accused of being Israeli Agents and thus they are intimidated by being arrested, kidnapped and jailed.

Further proof of the intentions and motivations of Hassan Nasrallah became even more evident on the Saturday just past, when hundreds of thousands of pro democracy people peacefully celebrated in Beirut their support for democracy and freedom, Hezbollah and its allies decided to attack a sector of the celebrants killing one person while was shielding his son from their attack and injuring at least thirty others. In an act reminiscing of the 7th of May 2008, this was a blatant message to the rest of the country that they should not rejoice prematurely in their liberty.

The list of violations grows by the hour as once again we recall the recent kidnapping by Hezbollah of the Middle East Airlines employee Joseph Sader while stepping out of the car into his office in Beirut Airport. There is absolutely no accountability for such behavior.
The biggest tragedy and disappointment was that in both of the above mentioned cases, the Lebanese army and Internal security personnel were watching these tragic events take place yet they simply stood as spectators and claimed that they could not interfere.

It is absolutely crucial that UNSCR 1559 be fully implemented, for without that, terror will reign in Lebanon and the Middle East.

For the International Committee for UNSCR 1559

Tom Harb
Secretary General
 

C.C. UN members and Government officials.