 Hizbullah will accept whatever the Lebanese government decides on demarcating the border with Syria, Minister of Energy Mohammed Fneish said in an interview with The Daily Star Friday. Fneish also said Hizbullah had "no plans" to quit the Cabinet despite increasing tension over the report of UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen. Larsen reported last month that Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora promised to disarm Hizbullah, a claim Siniora has denied.
Syria agreed this week to redraw its border with Lebanon starting with territorial waters north of Tripoli and the northern border abutting central Syria. "What the Lebanese government decides is our land Hizbullah will accept," said Fneish, the first minister from the Shiite resistance group to serve in the Lebanese Cabinet.
Fneish said any demarcation, however, must stop at the Isreali-occupied Shebaa Farms, which the Lebanese government says is part of Lebanon but the UN says is Syrian. "Shebaa Farms is occupied territory and you cannot draw lines where there is an occupation," he said.
| Occupied Syrian territory, we might add... |
Fneish also said Hizbullah would be willing to discuss disarmament if Israel withdraws from the Shebaa Farms and guarantees are given to protect Lebanon from aggression. "The resistance was born for certain reasons," he said. "If those reasons are not there anymore, we will discuss it." He added: "First let's see if Israel withdraws. After that there are so many issues that it is hard to talk about disarmament."
| "We're sure to come up with some reason to remain armed and dangerous." |
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