Hezbollah: Seized arms “for fighters in south of Lebanon”

Hezbollah: Seized arms “for fighters in south of Lebanon”

Earlier Thursday, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said customs authorities had stopped a truck carrying weapons on the outskirts of Beirut and had taken it to the city's port for investigation.

Hezbollah 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, Hezbollah said in a statement.

"The government program 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 fought a war against Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, in July and August, following the Lebanese group's capture of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers on July 12.

A UN Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of thousands of UN troops to monitor a truce effectively ended the war on August 14. The Lebanese army also deployed to southern Lebanon under the resolution.

Under the resolution, the Lebanese government is obligated to curb the flow of weapons to Hezbollah from abroad. A UN envoy and anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders have accused Syria of smuggling weapons to its allies in Lebanon in recent months.

Hezbollah is part of an opposition at odds with the government. The Shiite 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 and nine people were killed. It was Lebanon's worst civil unrest since its 1975-1990 civil war and raised fears of a new conflict. Leaders on both sides called for calm.

Hezbollah has sworn it will never use its weapons against other Lebanese. It says it needs the arms partly because of Israel's continued occupation of Shaba Farms -territory occupied since the 1967 Six Day War.

The Shaba Farms are claimed by Lebanon, while the United Nations says they belong to Syria. Damascus says the land belongs to Lebanon.

Israeli and Lebanese soldiers exchanged fire on Wednesday after Lebanese troops shot in the air as an Israeli patrol crossed a security fence near the border to search for explosives planted by Hezbollah guerrillas. IDF suffered no casualties. The Lebanese Army also reported no casualties.