United States President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that the Lebanon-based Shi’ite terror organization Hizbullah is a dangerous organization which should be disarmed. In an interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) Bush said Hizbullah is trying to impose its will on a free society and sabotage the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Secretary General of Hizbullah Hasan Na’srallah said on Tuesday that a United Nations Security Council call to disarm Hizbullah is meaningless.
Na’srallah said the Hizbullah fighters will keep their weapons as long as Israel poses a threat to Lebanon. Na’srallah has said Hizbullah will continue fighting as long as Israel remains in the Shib’a farms, or Mount Dov, a strip of disputed land on the Israel-Lebanon-Syria border.
U.N. Resolution 1559 calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon as well as the disarmament of armed groups in Lebanon. It was passed last September and sponsored by the United States and France.
Syria is currently withdrawing its troops from the neighboring Lebanon and recent reports say there are no more than 1,000 troops deployed in the country.
Tensions regarding Syria’s presence in Lebanon heightened after former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri was assassinated in February.
Hizbullah is designated a terror organization by Israel and the U.S.