As the 10,500-member UN peacekeeping mission is up for renewal next week, Ambassador Nikki Haley has been pushing for a stronger mandate to stop the flow of weapons to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, near to Israel, which has long complained of Hezbollah’s military activities there.
She told the UN in New York on August 25: “Since 2006, there has been a massive flow of illegal weapons to Hezbollah, mostly smuggled in by Iran. They openly threaten Israel. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that is very destabilizing to the region.”
the UN peacekeeping commander, Major General Michael Beary, has dismissed allegations by the US and Israel that Hezbollah is illegally stockpiling arms in the country.
He said that his force has found no evidence of weapons being illegally smuggled into the area.
Haley said Hezbollah had been bragging about its arms reserve and Beary “seems to be the only person in south Lebanon who is blind to what Hezbollah is doing.”
She said that his statement proves that changes need to be made in the UN peacekeeping mission there.
She said: “It’s time the Security Council puts teeth in the [peacekeeping] operation. We don’t need to be giving terrorists a pass.”
Iran and Hezbollah have not commented on the charges as of yet.
According to their UN diplomats, Russia and France are recommending no change in the peacekeeping mandate.
This is far from the first time that Hayley has gone up against the UN with regards to the Iranian Regime.
Earlier this week, she met with officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to urge them to demand access to Iranian military sites that they are currently banned from.
She said: “As good as the IAEA is, it can only be as good as what they are permitted to see. Iran has publicly declared that it will not allow access to military sites but the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) makes no distinction between military and non-military sites. There are also numerous undeclared sites that have not been inspected yet. That’s a problem.”
Last week, she said: “[The Regime should be held responsible for] its missile launchers, support for terrorism, disregard for human rights, and violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage.”
