Lebanon’s pro-democracy leadership shocked by comments of UN commander

Leaders of Lebanon’s pro-democracy movement are incensed over – what they contend are – ill-informed comments made this week by Italian Army Major General Claudio Graziano, senior commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), regarding Hezbollah’s weapons in the southernmost region of the Lebanese state where most UNIFIL troops are positioned. In south Lebanon – as in other regions of the country where the Iranian-backed Shiia terrorist army holds ground and conducts paramilitary exercises – Hezbollah has defiantly refused to disarm. According to UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, all “militias” in Lebanon are to be disarmed. And 1701 specifically says, “all armed groups in Lebanon” are “required” to disarm, and “there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese State.”