Arms are still flowing across the Syrian border to Palestinian groups and others in Lebanon, although the Beirut government is trying to crack down and assert its authority, a new UN report said on Wednesday.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan cited a variety of recent reports saying there was "an increasing influx of weaponry and personnel from Syria to some of these groups."
His new report to the Security Council, prepared by UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, also says that the Beirut government informed him that it had detained a number of infiltrators "of Palestinian origin who carried Syrian identification documents." And the report says that Syria acknowledged that arms and people were being smuggled back and forth over the border.
"The government of Syria has informed me that the smuggling of arms and people across the Syrian-Lebanese border does indeed take place, albeit in both directions," Annan said.
The report responds to Security Council resolution 1559 last September that called for Syria to withdraw all its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon and the disarmament of militias. This would include Palestinian groups and the Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas, who dominate the south.
But the report said that Lebanon has not yet been successful in extending its authority to all of its territory and disbanding and disarming all militias, despite discussions between Lebanese leaders and the Palestinian Authority.
"Tangible results are yet to be achieved in these two fields, and I will continue my efforts in this regard," Annan said.
The report is bound to put more pressure on Syria, the target of a US-French draft Security Council resolution threatening sanctions against Damascus if it does not cooperate fully with a UN investigation into the February 14 murder of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
The death of Hariri, a strong opponent of Syrian domination of Lebanon, transformed Lebanon's political landscape. The assassination led to protests and international pressure that resulted in Syria pulling its troops out of Lebanon after a 29-year presence.
A report from the investigation said the Syrian security officials and their Lebanese allies organised the murder.
The new report said that Lebanon had taken considerable steps to assert its control and hours before the report was issued, Lebanese troops and tanks encircled military bases run by pro-Syrian Palestinian militants.
The army set up checkpoints at Sultan Yacoub in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command runs a tunnel network dug into the hills, witnesses and security sources said.
Annan in the report noted that Hizbollah has been engaged with Israeli forces occupying the Shebaa farms, which the United Nations say are part of Syria unless both countries demarcate the border. The report says that even if Lebanon claims the Shebaa farms are its territory, the Beirut government and not Hizbollah should address the issue.
"Any Lebanese 'resistance' to 'liberate' the area from continued Israeli occupation cannot be considered legitimate," the report said.
"In addition, even if the Lebanese claim to the Shebaa Farms area were legitimate, it would be the responsibility of the government of Lebanon only to address this claim in conformity with international law and relevant Security Council resolutions," it added.
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