image Photo: Flash90 & Reuters

U.N. urges Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called upon the Beirut government to ensure the disarmament of the Lebanese Iranian-proxy Hezbollah.

In a statement he wrote: “I continue to urge the government and the armed forces of Lebanon to take all measures necessary to prohibit Hezbollah and other armed groups from acquiring weapons and building paramilitary capacity outside the authority of the State.”

Separately, the U.N. Security Council was briefed by its envoy for Lebanon on a number of violations that have taken place along the “blue line,” which is the Lebanese border with Israel. While the Security Council condemned unknown assailants for damaging parts of the Israeli security fence on several occasions, it also urged Israel to stop making use of Lebanese airspace for its alleged strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

According to Estonian Ambassador to the U.N., Sven Jürgenson, ; “The members of the security council expressed their deep concern following the recent incidents which occurred across the blue line (Israel-Lebanon border) and in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s UNIFIL area of operations, as well as all the violations of United Nations resolution 1701, including by land and air. They recalled that all parties should make every effort to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is sustained, exercise maximum clam and restraint, and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities or destabilize the region.”