UN: Arms flowing into Lebanon unimpeded

A U.N. report about arms flow into Lebanon confirmed Israel’s intelligence assessment that Hezbollah is rearming via Syria.The report, issued Tuesday in the U.N. Security Council, found that officials along the Syria-Lebanon border are not stemming the flow of weapons into Lebanon.During a three-week period ending June 15, the U.N. assessment team did not observe a single instance of border officials seizing arms anywhere along the 200 miles of border the team was monitoring.The Security Council resolution that ended last summer’s war between Hezbollah and Israel mandated that the Lebanese Army prevent arms flow across the border and into the hands of Hezbollah. The Lebanese and a U.N. force in the country were supposed to enforce that mandate, but apparently they have failed.”There is no cooperation between the Lebanese agencies on the operational level and their Syrian counterparts,” the U.N. report said.For months, Israeli intelligence officials have warned that Hezbollah has continued to stockpile weapons via Syria and that the terrorist group has replenished the arms supplies Israel destroyed during last summer’s war.Lebanese President Fouad Siniora said during a visit to France this week that his government was taking action against the arms smuggling. “Today there is a Lebanese garrison on the Syrian border, which receives reinforcements and even hot meals. We are determined to close border, though we are two sister states with good relations,” he said.Siniora also said in response to reporters’ questions that his government is not responsible for the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah on July 12, 2006, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.