Lebanon PM warns army will seize weapons

[tocqueville]

By HENRY MEYER, Associated Press Writer
30 minutes ago

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese prime minister warned Thursday that his army will seize all weapons shown publicly in southern Lebanon, offering a sharp retort to a boast from Hezbollah's leader that his fighters are on the border with Israel and won't leave.

A month into the U.N. cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations said the truce is holding well, but the comments underscored growing friction between the Islamic militant group and the Lebanese government, which is led by opponents of Hezbollah's patron Syria.

"I intend for the Lebanese army to prove its presence in the area south of the Litani River," Prime Minister Fuad Saniora told reporters after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

"We want this area to be under the army's and the Lebanese state's control. The army has all the authority to ban any armed appearances and confiscate those weapons," Saniora said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast

[davidinalameda]

1. like that will happen

if they had the area under state control, none of this would have happened in the first place

[Tom Joad]

2. If Israel weren't holding Lebanese as prisoners, none of this would

have happened. or if Israel had not ever occupied Lebanon for decades, this would never had happened.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. .

:eyes:

The thought of diplomacy never occurred to those chuckleheads in Hizb'allah?

[Tom Joad]

6. thought of diplomacy never occurred to those chuckleheads in Israel?

[Behind the Aegis]

7. having bombs dropped on you...

...and soldiers kidnapped will often cause diplomacy to go right out the window. The recent conflict was started by Hizb'allah, no matter how you try and spin it.

[The Stranger]

14. Israel bombed innocent Lebanese civilians, many of whom were children, and

nealy all of which never supported Hezbollah. It completely fucked up.

[Behind the Aegis]

19. after the fact....

...your facts offer nothing to what was being discussed.

[breakaleg]

8. diplomacy is tactic used by Israel to buy time to build settlements.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. .

:eyes:

More nonsensical propaganda.

[The Stranger]

18. At least provide some substance.

The spinning eyes is getting to be a trademark.

[Behind the Aegis]

20. propaganda is worthy of eye-rolling.

[Andromeda]

28. Another non sequitur.

:eyes:

[davidinalameda]

5. so the Israelis just invade for the hell of it?

didn't have anything better to do and thought they'd just send their troops on a merry little jaunt into Lebanon?

[Tom Joad]

9. The thing is that there were longstanding issues that were not resolved

including the return of Lebanese prisoners, the location of landmines left in Lebanon that Israel had a duty to disclose their location. Yes, there should have been more diplomacy, but Israel was not willing to do so.
When the Israeli soldier was captured, a rain of bombs and F-16s fell on the people of Lebanon, and Hezbollah responded in kind.

[muryan]

11. what caused the first invasion/occupation of lebanon?

if you can tell me thats israels fault you might have a point. They have only retaliated against foreign agression since the countries inception. So basically you will have to fall back on the "israel shouldnt exist there anyway" arguement, and nobody cares what those people think.

[The Stranger]

17. Why not ask Israel -- they are demanding answers from their own gov.

about exactly why they made such a stupid invasion and murdered 1200 innocent Lebanese in the process.

[muryan]

22. you may be jumping to conclusions

the majority of discontent coming out of israel is anger against the cease-fire. Also, 1200 innocent werent killed as a significant number were hezbollah, an organization that in no realm of logic can be labeled innocent.

[davidinalameda]

12. you never answered my question

why did Israel invade in the first place?

[The Stranger]

16. Why don't you ask Israel, they seem pretty divided over that very question

and many of them are demanding answers from Olmert and company.

[davidinalameda]

27. because "Israel" isn't posting in this thread

[The Stranger]

15. Actually, it had been a plan they had been working on for over a year.

They just needed the lying pretense to go over the border again. And make yet another mistake in Lebanon.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Good!

I hope they follow through!

[saigon68]

13. Pipe Dreams

[Behind the Aegis]

21. Perhaps.

But hopefully, they will actually follow thorough.

[The Magistrate]

23. It Is What Needs To Happen, Sir

The best guarantee of Lebanese security and stability is the disarming of Hezbollah. There is nothing that can substitute for it.

[geek tragedy]

24. In turn, a prerequisite for disarming Hezbollah is a Lebanese

army that (A) can take Hezbollah on and (B)serve as more than a speed bump for the IDF.

[The Magistrate]

25. True Enough, Sir

[Behind the Aegis]

26. Of course, I agree with you, sir.

I am also hoping that the UN body being sent in will be able to assist the Lebanese in carrying out these new orders from the PM of Lebanon! I feel the inclusion of Turkey in the coalition will also help.