Lebanese army to keep seized weapons

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Lebanon's defense minister says the army will keep a shipment of seized weapons, destined for Hezbollah, to use against any Israeli violations.

Defense Minister Elias al-Murr said Friday a truckload of weapons intercepted by the authorities have made their way to southern Lebanon, where the army is deployed along with peacekeepers of the U.N. International Force in Lebanon.

The authorities Thursday seized a truckload of arms east of Beirut belonging to Hezbollah, which demanded the authorities release the arms. But the defense minister refused, saying in a television interview he had hoped Hezbollah would "present the seized weapons and other arms as a gift for the Lebanese army, since it is the concerned party responding to Israel's constant violations in the south."

Murr told reporters Friday after a meeting with UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano the truck and its contents are with the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon. "If Israel carries out another violation, we will use these weapons to confront it," he said.

The minister added that he told Graziano the army in the south has orders to "confront the Israeli forces in case of any new violations of Lebanese sovereignty."

The meeting with the UNIFIL chief came two days after an exchange of fire erupted between the Lebanese and Israeli armies across the Blue Line, the U.N. demarcated border, for the first time in decades. The skirmishes across the border had in the past involved Hezbollah before the army was deployed at the behest of a U.N. Security Council resolution the ended last summer's 34-day war.

Graziano said the peacekeeping force was still investigating the incident and added UNIFIL has not faced any problems with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.