Last update - 00:00 12/06/2007
Report: Syria dismisses UN envoy's claims of arms smuggling into Lebanon
By The Associated Press
Syria's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday dismissed accusations by a United Nations envoy who expressed alarm to the Security Council over reports by the Lebanese army and observers that both arms and militia men were crossing the border from Syria to Lebanon.
Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, quoting an unnamed Syrian Foreign Ministry official called a report by UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen misleading and rumors released for political purposes.
Last week, the UN Security Council reiterated its deep concern about what it said was mounting evidence that arms were being smuggled across the border from Syria.
The council adopted the resolution after Roed-Larsen, the UN envoy for Lebanon-Syria issues, briefed it on the 2004 resolution that called for disarming all militias in the country and extending Lebanese authority throughout the southern region.
The resolution is linked to another adopted at the end of last summer's Second Lebanon War that banned arms smuggling.
In his report, Roed-Larsen said "the picture that emerges from the Lebanese army report ... is that there is a steady flow of a variety of weapons, other provisions and armed elements, across the border from Syria."
But Syria's Foreign Ministry accused Roed-Larsen's report of trying to harm Syrian-Lebanese relations and augment hostilities between the two sisterly countries, SANA reported, quoting the official.
The Security Council adopted the statement on the day a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri went into effect.
The issue of the tribunal has sharply polarized Lebanon. It is at the core of a deep political crisis between the Western-backed government led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Syrian-backed opposition led by Hezbollah.
At the same time, the Lebanese army is confronting Al-Qaida-inspired militants in the north that some pro-Lebanese government supporters have accused Syria of supporting to destabilize Lebanon.
The Foreign Ministry official denied any links between Syria and the Fatah al-Islam militants battling the Lebanese army.