Lebanon:Hizbullah demanded the return of a truck carrying munitions seized by Lebanese authorities yesterday, saying the supplies were heading to its fighters in south Lebanon.
Information minister Ghazi Aridi said earlier yesterday that customs authorities had stopped a truck carrying weapons on the outskirts of Beirut and had taken it to the city's port for investigation.
Hizbullah said the authorities had confiscated a "truck carrying munitions to the resistance". The truck had been carrying the load from the Bekaa Valley in the east to the south, it said in a statement.
"The government programme clearly confirms the right of the resistance ... to work to liberate the rest of the occupied land, the prisoners and to confront the Zionist threats," the statement said, demanding the return of the truck and munitions.
Israel and Hizbullah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, fought a war in July and August following the Lebanese group's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12th.
The war was halted by a UN Security Council resolution which authorised the deployment of thousands of UN troops to monitor the truce. The Lebanese army also deployed to the south under the resolution.
The Lebanese government is supposed to halt the flow of weapons to Hizbullah from abroad under the resolution. A UN envoy and anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders have accused Syria of smuggling weapons to its allies in Lebanon in recent months.
Hizbullah is part of an opposition at odds with the government. The Shia Muslim group says the cabinet does the bidding of the United States and, together with its allies, is demanding veto power in government.
The political standoff spilled over into armed clashes last month when nine people were killed. It was Lebanon's worst civil unrest since its 1975-1990 civil war and raised fears of a new civil conflict. Hizbullah has sworn it will never use its weapons against other Lebanese.
Israeli and Lebanese soldiers exchanged fire yesterday after Lebanese troops shot in the air as an Israeli patrol crossed a security fence near the border to search for explosives planted by Hizbullah guerrillas. No one was hurt. - (Reuters)