[Jerusalem Post Middle East] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that Hizbullah is making an effort to create "intimidation" in Lebanon ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for June, AFP reported late Monday. He was also quoted as voicing concern for Hizbullah activities in Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
In a report to the UN Security Council, Ban said, "The threat that armed groups and militias pose to the sovereignty and stability of the Lebanese state cannot be overstated."
"It creates an atmosphere of intimidation in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections. It also undermines the stability of the region, and is incompatible with the objectives of Resolution 1559," he added, referring to a 2004 resolution which called for the "disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias."
The UN chief described the groups arsenal as "a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and an obstacle for the conduct of the normal democratic process in the country."
On Friday, Ban condemned what he said was Hizbullah's interference in the affairs of another country. "I am alarmed that Hizbullah publicly admitted to providing support to Gaza-based militants from Egyptian territory," he said.
"Such activity indicates that Hizbullah operates outside Lebanese territory and beyond its stated national agenda. I condemn such unwarranted interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign member state," he said.
Ban renewed his call for Hizbullah to disarm and to transform into "a solely political party."
The group has rejected local and foreign calls to disarm, saying its arsenal of weapons and rockets is needed to defend Lebanon against any Israeli attack.
The death toll from a fierce gunbattle between Iranian police and Kurdish rebels in the western province of Kermanshah last week has risen to 26, the ISNA news agency reported on Saturday.
Of those killed in the April 24 clash near Ravansar close to the Iraqi border, 18 were policemen and eight were members of the Kurdish rebel Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), provincial justice chief Allahyar Malekshahi said.
"Five people suspected of participating in this terrorist attack have been arrested and are under investigation," he said.
Iranian state television said last week that 10 policemen and 10 rebels were killed.
Western Iran, which has a sizeable Kurdish population, has seen deadly fighting in recent years between Iranian security forces and PJAK rebels operating out of rear-bases in neighbouring Iraq.
The group is closely allied with the Turkish Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey all have significant ethnic Kurdish minorities.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11149 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
18 were policemen and eight were members of the Kurdish rebel Party
#2
Seems obvious the police need army combat training.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/03/2009 13:23 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Wrong, RJ. The Kurdish Rebels need more training. Enough so that next time, the results are more 180 police/soldiers killed, five rebels dead.
The Kurds have a distinctive lifestyle they want to maintain. None of the countries where they're currently residing is willing to leave them alone. The result is constand bloodshed and insurrection.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/03/2009 15:54 Comments ||
Top||
#4
These are Kurdhish communists. If the Iranians wipe them out, I would not shed any tears.
[Iran Press TV Latest] A group of Iranian Principlists disgruntled with the incumbent president's course of action has endorsed presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi.
"Time is approaching for the Principlist camp to pick its nominee for the country's tenth presidential elections. However, the camp is not pleased with the policies adopted by its current nominee," read a statement issued by the group on Saturday.
The group hit out at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his administration for what they described as lack of "logic and expertise" in the management of the country.
"Due to such fundamental problems, there should be no insistence on the promotion of such techniques in the management of the country."
The group went on to announce the establishment of the Mir-Hossein Moussavi Supporters Front, explaining that the party seeks a different political tone in the Principlist camp.
The newly established front questioned the efficiency of the current government while acknowledging the achievements of the Ahmadinejad government.
Mir-Hossein Moussavi is an independent candidate running for president in Iran's June 12 elections.
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[11136 views]
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Foreign Minister says detained journalist Roxana Saberi's appeal will be heard and considered based on justice and Islamic compassion.
"Any Iranian who violates the law will be prosecuted and Saberi is no exception to the rule," Manouchehr Mottaki said in a joint press conference with visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Saturday.
The 32-year-old Saberi, who has reported for the BBC, NPR and other media, was arrested in late January for working in Iran after her press credentials had expired.
The Iranian-American Saberi has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of spying for the government of the United States.
Nakasone, for his part, expressed concern over the fate of the freelance journalist. "Since her mother is Japanese... from a humanitarian perspective, we are following the case with concern."
Mottaki reassured his Japanese counterpart that Saberi's appeal would be considered based on justice and Islamic compassion.
Earlier on Wednesday, Deputy Head of the Iranian prosecutor's office judge Haddad said the jailed Iranian-American journalist has a chance of sentence reduction on appeal.
"The case will be reviewed by the court of appeal and amendments will be made to the sentence should there be room for amendments," said the judiciary official.
Saberi's father, Reza, claimed that Roxana is on the second week of a hunger strike, telling the panel that she is "extremely unhappy and is on a hunger strike".
Iranian Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi on Tuesday rejected reports about Saberi's hunger strike, saying she is in "good health".
[Khaleej Times] The powerful Lebanese group Hezbollah on Friday attacked an international investigation into the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, describing its work as politicised and dishonest.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iranian-backed Islamist movement, said in a televised address that this week's release of four Lebanese generals held since August 2005 in connection with the killing was "conclusive proof" that the international investigation had been unfair.
The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Wednesday ordered the release of the four generals seen as pillars of a Lebanese state dominated by neighbouring Syria at the time of the killing.
The generals were among a number of Syrian and Lebanese officials implicated in a preliminary report by the international investigation. The head of the inquiry at the time, Detlev Mehlis, requested their detention.
Syria has always denied any involvement in the assassination, which led to its military withdrawal from Lebanon. The generals always said they were innocent.
The prosecutor said in his filing to the court on Wednesday that an assessment of evidence had not proved sufficiently credible to warrant indictments due to inconsistencies in potentially key witness statements and a lack of corroborative evidence. [ID: nLT208083]
"After four years, the truth of the falsification and politicisation of the work of the international investigation commission has become clear," said Nasrallah, a close ally of Syria whose group backed the generals' campaign for freedom.
"Today, I hope that nobody will ask us in advance to accept anything from the prosecutor, or the international investigation, or the judges of the tribunal simply because it issued a correct decision two days ago," he added.
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[Khaleej Times] The powerful Lebanese group Hezbollah on Friday attacked an international investigation into the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, describing its work as politicised and dishonest.
