UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly criticized Hezbollah for operating as the most heavily armed militia and a political party in Lebanon and urged the militant group to halt military activities inside and outside the country, including in Syria.
In a report to the UN Security Council on Monday, Guterres said Hezbollah’s military activity violated a 2004 Security Council resolution ordering all Lebanese militias to disarm. He added that Hezbollah’s engagement in the Syrian conflict also violated Lebanon’s official policy of “disassociation,” or neutrality in regional affairs.
Guterres called on Lebanon’s government and armed forces “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.
The Syrian Coalition earlier said that Hezbollah’s hands are soaked in the blood of the Syrian people, calling on the international community to take serious steps to force the Hezbollah militias and the rest of the Iranian terrorist militias to withdraw from Syria.
The UN Secretary-General’s remarks coincided with calls by the United States on Iran to withdraw all its terrorist militias from Syria and end its support for Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda. The United States also threatened Iran with tough economic sanctions in response to its behavior in the region. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
