Obama presses Lebanon to crack down on arms smuggling to Hezbollah

so far hezbollah has driven out israeli and syrian armed forces, israel stops the real army from aquiring weapons that can make a difference and stop hezbollah, but the likes of you want the impossible, ie, no arming the real army to stop the defacto army, it aint gonna happen, and hezbollah will be deemd the ONLY army after israel strikes again and gets it's butt kicked in AGAIN.

Israel wouldn't have bene in Lebanon in the first place, if it weren't for Arafat & Hezbollah

Lebanon was one of the five Arab armies that attacked Israel in 1948, concealed Arafat and his motley crew in the '80s and now shelters Hezbollah, which attacked Israel a couple of yaars ago Not only that, up until recent times, Lebanon was engaged in a long bloody civil war amongst it's own people

original homes in what is now Israel, and then there would be no need for Lebanon or Hezbollah to arm or be armed.

Mark, Hezbollah did not drive Israel out of Lebanon, Israel left Lebanon when it wanted. Most Hezbollah fighters ran away when faced by actual Israeli soldiers; they are only good at intimidating unarmed civilians. The few Hezbollah fighters who stayed to fight Israeli soldiers were killed. Lebanon has more to fear from Hezbollah than Israel does. I can't believe that you would support a terrorist group like Hezbollah. You must be a Muslim.

and THATS....a fact.

Israel doesn't need to negotiate a peace treaty with Lebanon. Lebanon needs to seek a peace treaty with Israel. Lebanon declared war in 1948 and never declared peace. Other posters are correct, a weapons gift to Lebanon is a weapons gift to Hezbollah.

first of all, suleiman is pro hezbollah..so sitting with the messiah for a photo op and some disingenous "talks" is bullshit. Giving artillery, tanks & drones to "lebanon" is defacto giving them to hezbollah, and obama knows this. It's a disgrace..all his moves are intended to weaken israel and strengthen his arab brothers...see the f-22, his coddling of turkey, leaks about israeli -iraqi flyovers,his speech in egyptreinforcing the arabs propaganda that israel is a colonial implant, which it is not, backdooring with hezbollah via carter and malley...his flip flop on jerusalem..etc..etc..it is constant and a conscious effort to box in israel. It's shameful what a worm obama is...

Much more legitimate than the invading Israeli citizens in occupied Palestine. But don't blame Iran. Hezbollah exists because of Israel's expansionist aspirations. It is Israel which breaches its sovereign and declared borders, not Iran. In 1948, Israel declared its borders. And in 1949 Israel signed the Geneva Conventions.

If USA are indirectly providing them arms??? All Hezbo need to do in Leb is shout jump and the Lebanese army say how high???

arming the Lebanese army with Drones,Tanks,etc(which is predominantly Shia BTW)is tantamount to arming hezzbollah themselves wqe not only saying it but so are the Lebs themselves. I really thought Obama was clever guess I was clearly wrong.

Stop Arms Smuggling? That's a funny one. While the US pumps Israel with money for arms and turns a blind eye to Israel's continued violations of Lebanese soveriegnty.... Does Obama really believe arms smuggling in Lebanon is high on the list of problems in the region?

I genuinely do not understand israel and the US, they press the lebanese to crack down on HA,while the country is in virtual occupation by the shiite militia. Most of us hoped in 2006 for a positive change, instead the IDF fumbled and tumbled. in May 2008 during the Beirut raids, we expected at least a threatening statement from the US, instead we just got lip service.

As Lebanese Army has no power, no training, no weapons and is intimidated by twice as strong Hezbollah it cannot "crack" Hezbollah without strong support or intervention from abroad. Your confusion is because lack of knowlege about Lebanon. If there is no cancer of Hezbollah, whole Middle East could be a area of peace, as Hezbollah is not Lebanese. It is strictly Iranian armed force. That's a whole problem.

The other side may have arms as well.

Iran may be helping destabilise the Middle East by smuggling weapons, but Obama is allowing extremist US Jews to undermine peace in the area by smuggling money and recruits in large quenatities to extremist West Bank settlements. Just as US IRA supporters funded Irish terrorism in Ireland and the UK, now Americans are funding Jewish terrorism on the West Bank. By all means seek to contain Iran, but it's time to put your own house in order Obama.

The only organization in Lebanon which might some day be able to take on Hizbollah is incapable because America continues to capitulate to Israel's demand that the Lebanese Army be kept too feeble to defend the nation. This allows Hisbollah to argue - effectively - to the Lebanese Cabinet that it must retain it's arms as it is the ONLY force in Lebanon that has ever defeated Israel. Thus when Netanyahu's errand boy Obama demands that Lebanon crack down on Hizbollah smuggling he is asking what most in the government of Lebanon would love to do, but what he refuses to help them be capable of doing. Israel wants to have Hisbollah disarmed, the government of Lebanon would LOVE to be capable of disarming Hisbollah. But Israel also does not want it's favorite punching bag - Lebanon - to be capable of defending itself. America is too weak to do what it needs to do. Lebanon is to weak to do what wants to do - disarm Hisbollah. And Israel wants it that way.

I give credit to Israel for that! American is blind when it comes to Israel and now we see the fruit of it!

what wrong Nora, are you worry? tell your goverment to stop occupation and follow U.N resolution.

Obama, Hezib arms are used for the liberation of occupied lands. South leb was liberated throu the slow war of atttrition the IDF faced. Let all arabs arm them selves then you will see peace. That is the only way people crazed by a 3000yr story of a promised land will see reality. they are using you as a policeman to perpertuate the occupation. Let every one arm.

...Hezbollah IS Lebanon. Over the years, the PLO was Lebanon for a while, then Lebanon became part of Syria, then it became Hezbollah. Lebanon hasn't been Lebanon for ages.

"Obama presses Lebanon to crack down on arms smuggling to Hezbollah" As if Lebanon is not trying in vain & for many years ! Lebanon is well and truly sold out to Hezbollah. Hamas is a photocopy in the way ! Change is a different thing from waiting for things to happen ! Alas ! This is the only policy of the president for many grave issues of the day !

is supplying hizballah with arms.

the arc of nations surrounding israel hate the united states.some of their corrupt leaders need the usa for personal survival.but the masses hate the usa. perhaps more then europe does.

all weapons sent to lebanon belong to hizballah.the army is 80% shia.

the elections in lebanon are irrelevant.the threat hizballah poses to all sections in lebanon is dominant and overwhelming. so all the parties in effect act as a cover for hizballah.in short lebanon is a hizballah state.and by extension an iranian satrapy.

....or rather Israels "unsmart" policies/conduct over the past 3 decades. If one could only teach you smart politics, you would become (almost) perfect human beings.... ....okay, in sports you would need some improvement too...:)

the president must make peace with those he has offended.

will not be good. Yes we can but NO we wont !

when has Israel ever gone to war with a country after not being attacked first? Israel is not a threat to Lebanon but it is a threat to Hezbollah as long as Hezbollah remains a proxy of iran. Obama is preventing another war that is being planned by their command center in tehran.

Time for Obama to get his head out of the sand and get some new military advisers. Is this man naive or what! ....and he is thinking of giving military equipment to the Lebanese! Has he lost he mind?!! I can't even believe what I am reading anymore. Hezbollah has 40,000 missiles and now Obama thinks it might be a good idea to maybe consider cracking down on arms smuggling from Iran now...I am speechless...I don't know how to respond to these headlines anymore...this is absolute nonsense.... regards, Gregg

"Israel has no commonality with the people of ME. It is an implant that is being coughed away from." (American #6)

The US has provided Patton Tanks & Hueys & APCs from Korea (the war when & where last used). And when hatches have rusted off, the US replaced them with painted hardwood. What more could Lebanon need? Oh yea, bullets. Two years ago when the LAF was in a fight with al Qaida, the US did allow them to buy bullets, but only after losing about 20 soldiers for lack of ammunition. What's more than likely is that Hezbollah will supply the LAF with its leftover more modern equipment.

because the wars there have only been flaring only since israel was "born", and they will stop when it disapears, either by israels own hands, or their neighbours.

lebanon can't defend itself, notice how obama and america support the pariah state of israel? which is armed to the teeth, and how this, america "says" it supports lebanon but allows israel to pound away without restraint, now you know why even harriri is on hezbollahs side.

hezbollah is not a defender of lebanon. to the contrary, hezbollah has destroyed lebanon. hezbollah is the iranian proxy that had slaughtered hundreds of u.s. marines and embassy personnel and other members of the american government. hezbollah is a terror organisation which has operated worldwide for decades.

This was definetly a dissapointing meeting. Obama could barely get Michel Suleiman's name right and has very basic knowledge of complexities of Lebanon. There are many parallels between what is occuring now in Lebanon and what occured before the civil war. I think it is time for other groups in Lebanon to re-arm with the secret help of Israel and the US to finish the job that was started in the 70's and 80's. I do not see another alternative. Hezbollah only responds to force.

infidels are an implant according to islamists....so that includes you too...and it would be no different if israel was christian. the fact that jews are semites, speak hebrew, practice judaism all of which are older than anything arabic or islamic ...means that they are authentically m.eastern so hardly an implant. As much as i love usa....white europeans in the americas, auz/nz speaking english, french, spanish and portuguese are obviously foreign and implants. but dont let logic and facts deter you from your bigotry.

The simple fact is that Lebanon doesn't need any protection from Israel unless it attacks Israel. Everything else is fabricated.

Deliberate losers of wars and those who spare their enemies rather than their own people will still get 50% of the stupid Israelis' votes, but irretrievably harm their own country.

..this makes sense...we arm lebanon...artillery,tanks and drones...lebanon,going to use these drones to keep a close eye on (who)..takes a real smart fella to figure that one out...this is maddness.

4 explicit UN resolutions + Taif accord instruct them to DISBAN HEZBO WEAPONS. So they pass a resoulution that Hezbo is allowed to keep its weapons and defend Hezbanon (against whom?) and they think that susch Arab BS can fly outside Hezbanon. Dont think so

Obama: arms delivered to Israel are a threat to Lebanon and world. Screw your head on right.

It is Israel that, when armed to the teeth and made too powerful for the ME to bear, has caused all wars in names of security. What is Israel really wanted is to take all the lands it can swallow, ignore the UN resolution with the help of the US, and influence hegemony over a whole people. Israel has no commonality with the people of ME. It is an implant that is being coughed away from.

President Obama's lip service to President Suleiman is completely futile! How is an impotent president supposed to enforce the 'law' with the incompetent army at hand(that are mostly shiites)? HA is running the show. The Lebanese Army can't even enter the Baalbek area to quell firey disputes between shiite families! In the mean time weapons are smuggled to HA by land, air and sea, thanks to Syria. Anyone calling for the Lebanese army to stop the flow of weapons to HA is either naiive or thinks the rest of the world IS!

If the Lebanese army cracks down on Hezbollah, then the Israeli army (IDF) would be in/out Lebanon when ever they wish. Most likely would be treating Lebanon like the West Bank. Odes this make sense, I don't know, its just a thought.

The problem is that Lebanon depends upon America for it's arms. America, supine before Israel's demands refuses to equip or train the Lebanese Army. And as a results, only Hisbollah has the ability to defend Lebanon. As the Lebanese Army is castrated by America, at Israel's demand, there is no sane politician in Lebanon willing to prevent Hisbollah from having what it needs to defend the nation as it did when it ran Israel out of Lebanon or during the Second Lebanon War. The rational answer would be to allow the Lebanese Army to be equipped and trained not only to defend the nation, but disarm Hisbollah. But Israel will never allow America to arm the Lebanese Army so as to stand up to Hisbollah. So Hisbollah, and not the Army, is Lebanon's ONLY line of defense. Hisbollah thanks Israel and applauds America for preserving it's role and unique power. Without Israel, Hisbollah would be nothing. Indeed, without the invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s, Hisbollah would not be.

what about the threat from zio-land to lebanon....slow bama makes me ill

Are they kidding? 1/3 of the Lebanese army is Hezbollah. One of these days Hezbollah can decide to "replace" the Lebanese army. Who will stop them from doing that ?

"UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ... banned all UNAUTHORIZED weapons between the Litani River and the Blue Line" And the Lebanese Gov't just put a big 'ol rubber stamp over Hezbollah that says "AUTHORIZED". There is no such thing as weapons smuggling to Hezbollah based upon 1701 anymore. Israel cannot use 1701 as justification to overfly Lebanon. There is no such thing as a Hezbollah violation of 1701 now that they've been authorized. If Israel wants more than what is in 1701, it isn't the Security Council that they need to talk to. It is the Lebanese Gov't. 1701 made very clear what Israel needs to do if they don't like the cease-fire. Israel needs to negotiate a peace treaty based upon the outline provided in 1701. Get to work!!

Its too late to do anything about a serious threat to Israel, which I'm afraid will turn out to be a very serious threat to Lebanon. Strengthening the Lebanese army = strengthening Hezbollah. There is no difference between the two unless (a) there is a serious power struggle in Lebanon which (b) surprisingly, the anti-Hezbollah forces win. That won't happen but I'm convinced that the next time Lebanon enters the fray the stakes will be unprecedently high.

US has already told lebanon they will not give enough or sell enough weapons to defend against the zio-state....so what choice does lebanon have? russia and iran are cheaper anyway