Hezbollah: Ban’s report biased toward Israel

Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah says that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has been biased towards Israel.

Hezbollah issued a statement on Tuesday in reaction to Ban’s report on the implementation of Resolution 1701, issued following Israel’s 33-day war against Lebanon in summer 2006.

The Islamic movement charged Ban with applying double standards in his report on the resolution and with justifying Tel Aviv’s aggressions against the Lebanese nation.

The statement added Ban’s report glosses over Israel’s daily violations of Lebanese airspace as well as the regime’s spy rings in Lebanon.

Hezbollah reiterated its condemnation of such acts for threatening Lebanon’s security and breach of international laws.

In his report, Ban stated that Hezbollah’s military forces constitute a violation of the resolution which calls for disarmament of Lebanese groups.

“The presence of armed groups in Lebanon operating outside the control of the state constitutes a challenge to the ability of the state to exercise its full sovereignty and control over its territory,” Ban wrote.

He also urged Lebanese President Michel Sleiman to renew the session of the National Dialogue Table, which is supposed to address the issue of Hezbollah’s arms.

The UN report comes despite concerns expressed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who warned last month against Israeli attempts to spark a military confrontation with Lebanon.

“We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats. We see what’s happening on the ground and in our airspace and what’s happening all the time during the past two months,” he said, highlighting Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace and .

In a joint news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo in January, Hariri denounced Israel’s threats to target Hezbollah positions in the South of the country.

“We consider the Israeli threats on Lebanon to be a threat to the Lebanese government as a whole, rather than to one particular person,” he said, adding that “everywhere is under the authority of the Lebanese government.”