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| United States highlights
continued Syrian interference in Lebanon Ambassador Bolton calls for U.N. Security Council resolution By Judy Aita, Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- U.S. Ambassador John Bolton wants the Security Council to consider a resolution on Syria's failure to stop interfering in Lebanon. "The U.S. has concluded [that] another resolution by the Security Council is warranted to highlight the continuing Syrian failure to comply with the requirement of [Resolution] 1559, possibly also to take into account its obligations in connection with the Hariri assassination under [Resolution] 1595," Bolton said April 26 after a briefing by U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen. (See related article). Such a resolution, the ambassador said, "would be important to show the council's continuing resolve on the question." In a recent report to the council written by Roed-Larsen, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urgently called on Syria to take measures to stop the illegal movement of weapons and people into Lebanon. He also called on all parties who have influence with the Lebanese militia Hizballah and other militias to support their disarmament and disbanding. Annan said that Hizballah "maintains close ties, with frequent contacts and regular communication" with Syria and Iran. Iranian involvment in Lebanon Bolton said that Iran's involvement in Lebanon and support to terrorist groups in the region is an issue that also might be considered by the council. Bolton has called the secretary general's report "an important step forward in demonstrating the importance of Iranian interference in Lebanese internal affairs." (See related article.) "We all know that Iran supplies Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad," Bolton said. That activity coupled with "the alliance that Syria and Iran seem to have formed in recent months" has implications for peace and security in the region. "We now see the effect of the financing by the Iranian Government of terrorist organizations and their effort to disrupt what we think should be progress toward a sovereign and democratic Lebanon," the ambassador said. Bolton said that Syria's failure to accept Lebanon's offer to negotiate the border delineation and demarcation is "a continuing indication by Syria that they really don't think Lebanon is an independent country." Delineation of the Syria-Lebanon border "goes to the fundamental reality that we're trying to create, which is a free, independent, sovereign Lebanon," the ambassador said. Resolution 1559, passed in 2004, calls for withdrawing all foreign forces from Lebanon; disbanding and disarmament of all militias; extending the government's control over all Lebanese territory; and respecting the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity, and political independence of Lebanon. Resolution 1595, passed in 2005, authorized the U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and called on all countries to cooperate with the probe. The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov |