November 29, 2019
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy commends United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres for boldly calling for the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon. A new UN report has confirmed that Hezbollah is preventing the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon from operating in Hezbollah-controlled areas. In September, Hezbollah launched rockets against Israel’s defense forces in Northern Israel and the terror group is now preventing the UNIFIL from inspecting the area.
Said Secretary General Guterres, “I call upon the Government of Lebanon to take all actions necessary to ensure the full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), which require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon so that there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than those of the Lebanese State.”
“The Lebanese government must disarm Hezbollah or it will never regain full sovereignty over its territory,” said AMCD co-chair, John Hajjar. “Unfortunately, the government may not be strong enough to accomplish this alone and the UN peacekeeping force does not have the mandate to help with that mission. The UNIFIL was tasked with keeping the peace between Lebanon and Israel after the Lebanese government was supposed to have disarmed this terrorist organization. Unfortunately, Hezbollah never disarmed and so Iran now has control of vast swathes of Southern Lebanon.”
“No country can survive in the long-run with a foreign terrorist organization operating freely within its territory,” added AMCD co-chair, Tom Harb. “Iran has poured millions of dollars into Lebanon, employing Hezbollah fighters and supplying them with advanced weapons, including the rockets they fire into Israel. If Lebanon is to survive, its national armed forces must be strengthened while Iran’s forces are diminished.”
“We applaud President Trump for applying strong sanctions against Iran,” said AMCD vice-chair, Hossein Khorram. “The people of Iran are rising up in protest against their nation’s limited resources being lavished on terrorist groups in foreign countries. They’re tired of sacrificing for the mullah’s foreign adventures. They want to turn toward positive goals of national development and away from the mullahs’ obsession with destroying Israel.”