Hezbollah rearming - Israel

2007-01-09 22:20

Jerusalem - Israel's military intelligence chief claimed on Tuesday that Lebanon's Hezbollah was rearming itself following last summer's war with Israel and that a UN peacekeeping force was doing nothing to stop it.

"Hezbollah has almost totally rebuilt its arsenal of rockets and arms," Major-General Amos Yadlin was quoted by army radio as telling the parliamentary foreign affairs and defence committee.

"The traffic of arms from Iran and Syria destined for Hezbollah is continuing and the UN peacekeeping force is doing nothing to disarm Hezbollah," he added.

Hezbollah - which Israel and the United States claim is armed by Damascus and Tehran - touched off the 34-day war when its fighters captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July.

The Jewish state responded with a deadly assault on Lebanon, while Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets at northern Israel.

The UN security council adopted a resolution in August that led to a ceasefire and the beefing up of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, giving it a mandate to assist the government in disarming militias.

But Yuval Steinitz, a member of the parliamentary committee, told army radio that "Hezbollah is rebuilding its forces and again threatening (the northern city of) Haifa and northern Israel".

- AFP