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Last update - 03:37 04/08/2008
Israel urges int'l pressure to stop Hezbollah arms smuggling
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Hezbollah, Syria, Israel 

The diplomatic-security cabinet will meet on Wednesday for another discussion on Hezbollah's rearmament in Lebanon, and is expected to make operative decisions on diplomatic and/or defense-related action.

The last meeting on the subject was devoted entirely to briefings by the intelligence agencies.

The government believes that Israel has not yet exhausted diplomatic channels for action against Hezbollah's arms smuggling.
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What is needed, one official said, is international pressure on two countries: Syria, because it is the main conduit for Hezbollah's arms, and Russia, since it is responsible for making some of the weapons now being sent to the Islamic organization.

"We must make this a key issue on the international agenda," he said.

Nevertheless, Israel is very frustrated by the fact that to date, the international community has not taken this issue seriously.

"We aren't succeeding in making this an important issue in Europe's relations with Syria," the official said.

"The fact that we are conducting negotiations with Syria does not make it easier for us to [explain] our position to the world."

As a result, Israel has recently sharpened the tone of its warnings on this issue significantly, with its main targets being the United Nations and the European Union.

Unacceptable to Israel

At a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week, for instance, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that the current volume of arms smugging into Lebanon cannot be allowed to continue much longer, as Israel "cannot accept" this situation.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, at a separate meeting with Ban last week, noted that Israel is keeping a close watch on violations of UN Security Council 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

These violations, he warned, are "on the verge" of altering the "delicate balance" that currently exists in Lebanon, and Israel sees this as a "genuine and serious threat."

According to government sources, Israel feels a sense of urgency regarding the steadily accelerating pace of arms smuggling to Hezbollah, despite its belief that the country's deterrent posture against the Islamic organization remains strong.

The government considers the arms smuggling to be a very sensitive issue: Ministers have refused to disclose any detailed information from cabinet meetings on the subject, and military censorship of any information concerning Lebanon has been tightened in recent weeks.

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