Hezbollah Again Caught Violating UN Resolution 1701

Back in July, I blogged about how Israel Publishes Maps Pinpointing Hezbollah Weapon Caches--Near Schools And Hospitals, including video.

Now Hezbollah has helpfully revealed more weapons that it had illegally stored in southern Lebanon. According to Ya Libnan:

A large explosion rocked a village in southern Lebanon Friday, according to a Lebanese security source.

The explosion took place inside the village of Shehabiyeh , near the border with Israel.

According to a witness, the sounds of further blasts continue to be heard in Shehabiyeh , as ambulances and firefighters were rushing to the area of the initial blast.

Preliminary reports from security sources in southern Lebanon said the house that seems to be the center of the blast belongs to a Hezbollah member and might have been an arms depot.


Hezbollah said the Lebanese army opened an investigation into the Shehabiyeh “fire” and denied any casualties in the blaze

Lebanese army troops are said to have cordoned off all areas leading to the village.

Shehabiyyah is 15 kilometers ( about 10 miles) east of the southern port town of Tyre. The area is under the control of United Nations troops and Lebanese soldiers and is supposed to be free of weapons, in accordance to UN resolution 1701, which ended 33 days of war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

While Hezbollah referred to it as just being a fire, the Reuters report goes into a little more detail:

The explosion was reportedly the result of a fire that spread to a building and detonated eight rocket shells, several hand grenades, and two gas containers, Reuters news agency quoted an anonymous security source as saying on Friday.

Just keep in mind that just a few days ago--on August 31st--the UN decided (again) to extend UNIFIL mandate to continue in Lebanon. Among other things, the resolution to extend the mandate and

Commends the positive role of UNIFIL, whose deployment together with the Lebanese Armed Forces has helped to establish a new strategic environment in southern Lebanon, welcomes the expansion of coordinated activities between UNIFIL and the Lebanese armed forces and calls on further enhancement of this cooperation;

This was after Israel provided proof that UNIFIL in fact is not doing its job.

Todays explosion just highlights that point.

The explosion of Hezbollah's weapons depot also puts addition pressure on it from within Lebanon, coming on the heels of the Hezbollah-Al Ahbash clash last month. There has already been a call within Lebanon to declare Beirut a weapons-free zone--an idea to which Hezbollah has been resistant.

The Ya Libnan article concludes with the point that the pressure on Hezbollah is only increasing as a result of Friday's explosion:

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said today that Hezbollah’s arms in their current location and form no longer serve Lebanon’s interest.

The weapons “serve other interests. ” Geagea told a delegation from the Popular University in Jbeil.

“As far as we know the resistance should be in occupied territories. Is Beirut occupied?” Geagea asked.

Hezbollah is beginning to look both incompetent and unwelcome--and that's without even going into the investigation that Hezbollah was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

Technorati Tag: Hezbollah and Lebanon.