BEIRUT, 7 May 2003 — A United Nations spokesman based in southern Lebanon said yesterday the Lebanese Army was effectively deployed in the region. “As far as I am concerned, (the army) is already deployed in south Lebanon,” said UN Interim Forces in Southern Lebanon spokesman Timor Goksel.
He said the Hezbollah resistance group had contributed to the relatively calm situation in southern Lebanon over the past few months. The Lebanese Army is reportedly not deployed near the Israeli border. During his visit to Lebanon on Saturday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell called on Lebanon to deploy its army in the south of the country to end the armed presence of Hezbollah, which Washington views as a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary Sheikh Naeem Kassem said the group rejected the US demands and would not accept decisions made by others while Israeli warplanes regularly violated Lebanese airspace. Lebanese Minister of Trade and Economy Marwan Hamdeh said Lebanon would not allow Hezbollah be eliminated just to please the hawkish Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon and satisfy US politicians opposed to the pro-Iranian group.
Some Western diplomats said if Washington really wishes to neutralize Hezbollah’s military activities, then it should seriously press Israel to work on resuming peace talks with Syria and Lebanon.
Meanwhile, a Lebanese military court has jailed four men including an Australian for three years on “terror” charges after they were arrested on suspicion of links to the Al-Qaeda network, judicial sources said yesterday. The sources said the men were convicted on Monday of forming a “terrorist group” to carry out criminal acts and undermine state authority.
Mohamed Ramez Sultan, an Australian-Lebanese dual national, had denied to the court he had any links to Osama Bin Laden’s militant network, although Lebanese prosecutors said he had admitted belonging to Al-Qaeda during questioning. He told the court he raised money for Islamic causes and rented a house in the northern city of Tripoli but denied he had tried to set up a cell for the group in Lebanon.
Sultan was arrested with a Saudi and a Lebanese man in September, and another Lebanese man was later handed over after being detained in Togo. All four received three-year jail terms while four others convicted in absentia were sentenced to 15 years in prison.
