Hezbollah engages in clandestine activities beyond Lebanon, UN says
Hezbollah militants had planned to carry out "hostile operations" in Egypt while maintaining a significant force and weapon arsenals at their strongholds in Lebanon, the United Nations said Thursday in an update report on the situation in Lebanon.
The report, which dealt with a 2004 UN resolution for an arms embargo on all militia groups outside the Beirut government, said there had been alarming reports of large number of arms reaching those groups while Hezbollah leaders continued to "assert that they have acquired more sophisticated military technology."
The report written by Terge Roed-Larsen, a UN special envoy for the Middle East, said information indicated that in recent weeks, "there has been a growing concern that Hezbollah has engaged in clandestine and illegal militant activities beyond Lebanese territory."
He said Egypt”s general prosecutor on April 8 arrested 49 people based on information from the country”s State Security investigation alleging that they were assigned by Hezbollah "to plan and carry out hostile operations on Egyptian soil."
Roed-Larsen said Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassen Nasrallah had acknowledged the detention of a Hezbollah operative and Egyptian authorities had confirmed the existence of a Hezbollah cell on their territory.
"The government of Egypt has shared with the UN secretary general a number of details concerning the plans, resources and actions of the cell as well and the material and devices confiscated," Roed- Larsen said in the report to the UN Security Council, which met to discuss it.
It cited "alarming reports" that the Iran-backed Hezbollah had received sophisticated military technology in a breach of the UN arms embargo on militias operating in Lebanon in violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
The United States has accused Iran and Syria of providing military assistance to Hezbollah in its fight against Israel.
The UN Security Council has been urging the Lebanese government to disarm paramilitary groups and restore its sovereignty over the territory.