http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N20179534
U.S. believes arms smuggled to Lebanon via Syria Wed 20 Dec 2006 23:48:32 GMT WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The United States believes arms continue to be smuggled into Lebanon through Syria, U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman said on Wednesday. U.N. Security Council resolutions have called on Lebanon to disarm all militias on its soil, including Hezbollah guerrillas backed by Syria and Iran, and have banned all unauthorized arms in Lebanon. "Analytically, we believe that the smuggling is still continuing," Feltman told reporters. "We believe that Syria has a responsibility to stop allowing its territory to be used for smuggling to Hezbollah." The flow of arms into Lebanon could strengthen the position Hezbollah, which is engaged in a tense power struggle with the Lebanese government led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Feltman carefully phrased his comments about whether arms smuggling continues, suggesting the United States may not have hard evidence of this. "There is a lot that crosses the border and ... if a truck sneaks across the border, you don't always know what's in that truck -- in some cases it could be cigarettes," he said. "There is verifiable evidence of smuggling across the Lebanese-Syrian border and analytically we believe that there is arms smuggling that is occurring ... with that smuggling," he said. Asked if there was reason to believe Iran had sought to rearm Hezbollah since the 34-day summer war between Israel and the militant group, Feltman replied: "Syria has traditionally been a transit point. Syria has not been a producer of the weapons that Hezbollah has used. I'll leave it at that." +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
