Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

General: Hezbollah not regrouping

|
|
 
  
Published: June 15, 2007 at 8:01 AM

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 15 (UPI) -- The commander of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said the guerrilla group Hezbollah hasn't regrouped in the southern part of Lebanon.

Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano, an officer in the Italian army commanding the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, denied that Hezbollah is reaching its previous strength level and said the group is nearly nonexistent south of the Litani River, the Jerusalem Post reported Friday.

The general, speaking in Tel Aviv, Israel, said he expected Hezbollah to be erased as a threat to security in the region within three years.

Graziano's comments contradict statements made by Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, who said the militant group had returned to its strength level prior to last year's war.

Graziano said while visiting Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli military officers that members of UNIFIL are committed to their mission.

"Our job is to defend peace and it is a value-based job for soldiers," he said. "There are people who will offer their lives for higher values like peace, security and stability."

Topics: Claudio Graziano, Shaul Mofaz
© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Syrian protests continue
View Caption
fark
Photoshop this topless athlete
Man rejects girlfriend's noodles, says toodles by leaving her in poodle of blood. Oodles of boodle...
Mormons tried to posthumously baptize Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel but were...
School principals should probably have background checks processed on them before they are hired...or...
Despite having a court order against her, man interrupts domestic battery case against his girlfriend...
Empire State building IPO issued. Subby also has a bridge to sell you as well