Ending Hezbollah’s existence is out of question, minister says

Agencies| Beirut

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com  

Staff Reporter

Lebanon’s foreign minister said he was not going “to hand over” Hezbollah’s weapons during a meeting with Gulf Arab counterparts that want Beirut to rein in the Iran-backed Lebanese group in exchange for improved ties.

In a nod to Gulf concerns, Lebanon will however say that the country will not be “a launchpad for activities that violate Arab countries,” according to sources familiar with a draft government letter responding to Gulf terms for improved ties.

“I am not going (to Kuwait) to hand over Hezbollah’s weapons.

I am not going to end Hezbollah’s existence, it is out of the question in Lebanon.

We are going for dialogue,” Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Al Jazeera.

The terms delivered to Beirut on January 22 by the Kuwaiti foreign minister include setting a time frame for implementing UN Security Council resolutions, among them Resolution 1559 which was adopted in 2004 and calls for the disarmament of non-state militias in Lebanon.

A draft of the government’s response seen sidesteps the issue, expressing Lebanon’s respect for UN resolutions “to ensure civil peace and national stability.”

The visit to Beirut last week by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah was the first since the rift.

He said Lebanon must not be a platform for hostile acts or words toward Gulf Arab states, and that members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were sympathetic to the Lebanese people.

In another development, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said yesterday he saw no reason for a delay to parliamentary elections in May after three-times former prime minister Saad al-Hariri announced he was boycotting the vote and stepping away from politics.

On Friday, Bahaa al-Hariri declared he was entering Lebanese politics, saying he would join a battle “to take back the country” and follow in the footsteps of his slain father days after his brother, Saad, stepped away.