United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged all Lebanese parties to stop meddling in the Syrian conflict, saying in a report that “the presence of unauthorized weapons in the hands of Hezbollah remains of serious concern.”
“No progress was achieved with respect to the disarmament of armed groups," Guterres said in a quarterly report distributed to the 15 Security Council members ahead of a debate set for Tuesday.
"The maintenance of arms outside the control of the state by Hezbollah and other groups continues to restrict the ability of the government of Lebanon to exercise full sovereignty and authority over its territory," he added.
"Hezbollah continued to acknowledge publicly that it maintains its military capacity."
Guterres said he was still "concerned" about "almost daily" Israeli overflights of Lebanese territory in violation of a UN resolution and Lebanese sovereignty.
In the area of operations of the UNIFIL mission in southern Lebanon, involving some 10,500 troops, the situation "remained generally calm,” said the report.
At the Rome II Conference that was aimed at shoring up support for the Lebanese army and security forces, Prime Minister Saad Hariri pledged to send more troops to southern Lebanon.
"Israel remains the primary threat to Lebanon,” he said.
Hariri added that the National Defense Strategy will be discussed following the legislative elections in May.
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