Posted on 03/19/2005 4:07:41 PM PST by NYer
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The patriarch of the Maronite church, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir called for Lebanon's Hezbollah militia to disarm along with Syria's promised withdrawal from the country.
Sfeir, who has become a leading figure in the Lebanese Christian opposition in addition to his religious duties, spoke after meeting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) here to discuss the evolving situation in Lebanon.
"They were a group that fought to free southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation," Sfeir said of Hezbollah, which helped push Israel out of the country in 2000 after 22 years.
"But now that has been accomplished, there is no longer any reason for them to be armed," he told reporters.
Hezbollah was theoretically the only militia allowed to retain its arms after the end of the country's 1975-1990 civil war because it was considered a resistance movement.
But it continues to lead attacks on the disputed Shebaa Farms border area. The territory, seized by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, is claimed by Beirut with the approval of Damascus.
"It's a question for the three nations -- Lebanon, Syria and Israel -- to discuss. I think the United Nations (news - web sites) could find a solution to the problem, and after that Hezbollah should just become a political group."
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday directly rejected a call from US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) for his Shiite Muslim movement to disarm.
"We are being asked to disarm so that Lebanon remains defenceless. Our force is protecting Lebanon," Nasrallah said. "The core of the problem is that the United States and Israel want to disarm Hezbollah."
UN Security Council Resolution 1559, passed in September, calls for both the disarming of militia groups in Lebanon as well as the withdrawal of forces belonging to Syria, which has long been the major powerbroker in the country.
Pressure at home and abroad has been mounting for a pullout since last month, when former prime minister Rafiq Hariri -- who had been critical of Syria's continuing influence in the country -- was assassinated.
Annan's spokesman on Thursday said the UN chief expects a complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon before a legislative election, set for May, is held.
"Mr Kofi Annan has stated that the Syrian forces will withdraw from Lebanon before the elections, and this is what we are hoping for," Sfeir said through his interpreter.
The Syrian army on Thursday completed the first stage of a planned pullout, with some 4,000 troops having returned home.
UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said last week after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he had agreed to fulfil the terms of Resolution 1559 and to withdraw his military and intelligence units.
"Syria gave assurances to Mr Larsen and Mr Annan, and I hoping that those assurances will happen," Sfeir said, adding that Annan had indicated he would send international observers to the Lebanese polls.
I got a bad feeling about this.....someone is going to try and take this man out I'm afraid.
Bush assures Sfeir that U.S. will insist on full Syrian withdrawal
Patriarch thanks American president for his 'sincere interest'
You won't find those Euro-Leftist human shields volunteering to protect anyone from Hezbollah, by the way.
Just as Hezbollah abuses the Religion of Peace for its own sinister purposes, so too do the Leftist "peaceniks" abuse our abhorrence of war for their own ill-gotten gains.
The results of *both* such groups insure little more than further bloodshed.
Yet all is not dark. Even against the backdrop of such bleakness, when radicals of many stripes conspire to assure further bloodshed, the good news is that bloodshedding is actually something we've gotten so good at that we can actually make this all work for us.
Yes, the poor Maronite patriarch is no doubt on Hezbollah's hit list and on the Euro-Leftists' blacklist of those whom they must purposefully ignore, but Hezbollah will be disarmed nonetheless.
For a price.
Catholic Ping - Come home for Easter and experience God’s merciful love. Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
He is very well respected in the Middle East and throughout the entire world. So much so, that the President of the US, George W. Bush, invited him to the White House, to discuss the situation in Lebanon.
He will remain in the US through this (Cana) Sunday before returning to Lebanon on Monday. Please remember him in your prayers. He is a very holy and devout man, fearless and intent on the best interests of his native country of Lebanon.
I will.
Resistance group = terrorist mass-murderers.
ping
May God protect this brave and compassionate man!!!
and confirmed from a lebanese maronite at home.
Were it not for the ugly policy of George Bush on Oct 13, 1990, trying to buy the syrian support for the Gulf War, things would not be like this today. We hope this is being redeemed by G.W.Bush now in 2005.
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