Introduction

Hizbullah’s Secretary General H.E. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah aserted that Hizbullah was prepared to give diplomacy a chance towards stopping “Israeli” encrachments onto Lebanese territory. “We are going to wait and see if it is just a question of wasting time, because the resistance will not wait long, he said.

Meanwhile, Beirut military court has sentenced another 65 Lebanese accused of collaborating with “Israel” to jail of terms between three weeks and 15 years in prison.

Hizbullah ‘waiting and watching’…(1)
Nasrallah: Resistance won’t wait for long

Hizbullah is dismayed by the repeated delays and conflicting signals from the United Nations regarding “Israel’s” continued violations of the Lebanese border.
But its secretary-general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said that the group “will wait and see” if UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan would keep his latest promise to end the “Israeli” encroachments by Friday.
“There have been many promises,” Nasrallah said after meeting Sheikh Mohammed Mehdi Shamseddine, president of the Higher Shiite Council.

“But obviously, there’s procrastination. The resistance movement won’t wait for long, but we’ll give attempts to sort things out a chance.”
President Emile Lahoud said on Wednesday that Annan had called him the day before and pledged “to put a stop to the “Israeli” encroachments within three days.”
Nasrallah said that UN Security Council Resolution 425 “has not been implemented yet. There is still Lebanese territory under occupation and Lebanese prisoners in “Israel”.”
He stressed that the “victory should be consolidated with national accord because we need to be united in facing “Israel’s” threats and challenges.”
The Hizbullah leader has been visiting the country’s top political and spiritual leaders to underscore his party’s full cooperation with the government in the post-withdrawal era.
Significantly, his campaign on Thursday reached leading cleric Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.
“We discussed the latest developments in Lebanon, in addition to upcoming events,” Nasrallah said after the meeting at Fadlallah’s home in Haret Hreik.
He also praised both Shamseddine and Fadlallah for supporting the resistance movement since its creation in 1982.

65 collaborators handed prison sentences…(2)

A military court has sentenced another 65 Lebanese accused of collaborating with “Israel” to prison terms of between three weeks and 15 years in prison.
The sentences were handed down late on Wednesday night after another marathon court session to try the more than 2,200 Lebanese accused of collaborating during “Israel’s” occupation.
The harshest sentence was 15 years in prison and was handed down in absentia. The other sentences did not exceed five years but most defendants were also barred from returning to live in their hometowns for between one and four years.
A charge of obtaining “Israeli” nationality was dropped against one man for lack of evidence, but he was convicted of working in “Israel”.
The tribunal, which has met three times a week since June 5, has so far sentenced 533 Lebanese. The harshest prison sentence was 22-and-a-half years handed down in absentia to a former member of the “Israeli”-proxy militia. All sentences can be appealed.
militiamen who had not been convicted of committing crimes have generally been sentenced to one year in prison and those who entered “enemy territory” have received terms of one or two months behind bars.
Meanwhile, judicial sources vehemently denied on Thursday that an elderly militiamen had died from a lack of medical attention as reported by a newspaper.
An-Nahar quoted an unidentified lawyer as saying that her client died after his “Israeli”-made pills were taken from him.
Jirjis Said, 72, who died in detention on Wednesday, “suffered a fatal heart attack,” according to one source. “He was suffering from diabetes and cataracts. Prison authorities provided him with medical care and the right medication.”

Landmines endanger lives in southern Lebanon…(3)

“With an estimated 130,000 land mines scattered in the former occupied zone in the south, victims of the deadly devices seem likely to increase. Reuters reported that United Nations soldiers from the Ukraine have been assigned to start cleaning them as soon as possible, alongside the Lebanese Army. 

“ The funeral of another landmine victim. Twenty-five-year-old Mohammad Hassoun died last week after he stepped on a land mine in south Lebanon. He was the fourth victim since “Israeli” forces withdrew from southern Lebanon on May 24. Mohammad was visiting a demolished “Israeli” position when he stepped on a mine. His father, Mahmoud Mohammad Hassoun, says Lebanon needs international assistance to clear the mines, adding his son was not the first to die. Twelve-year-old Amar Sarhan is one of eleven people to sustain serious injuries. Amar, along with his younger brother and a cousin were exploring an abandoned “Israeli” outpost at Ali Altaher when the mine exploded. He had no idea of the danger that existed. The casualty toll is expected to rise even further and it will be a long time before it is safe to visit all areas in the south. The former “Israeli”-occupied zone is one of the most heavily mined areas in the world. It is littered with mines planted by “Israel” and its now-defunct proxy militia, which have killed and maimed around twenty civilians so far. Unexploded shells still litter the ground. Drivers have to be cautious because roads are lined with minefields. Two girls were killed when the car they were traveling in was blown apart after it ran over a landmine. The Lebanese army says, approximately 130,000 mines and other explosives are scattered over 850 square kilometers in the south. The army has removed mines from a few roads in the area but experts say a wide scale mine sweeping operation needs to be launched before winter. Earlier this week an advanced party of Ukrainian soldiers, mainly mine clearing specialists, arrived in Lebanon as part of 1,000 extra UN peacekeepers. Timor Goksel, spokesman and senior advisor to the UNIFIL says the peacekeepers and the Lebanese army will need to work together and support each other's mine clearing operations. [Timor Goksel, spokesman and senior advisor for UNIFIL, saying: "The first one would be done by UNIFIL and of course if we can get any help from the Lebanese army it will be appreciated. The Lebanese Army will have their hands full trying to deal with mines more inland that endangers civilian population. So we will try not to be a burden on them and do our own mining for military purposes and if we have excess capacity and expertise we will go and help them.] The UN is trying to restrain civilians from moving freely in some areas, where thousands of landmines were planted indiscriminately by occupation troops, especially along former front-line regions. 

1-       The Daily Star, 30-6-2000.

2-       Same source.

3-       Future TV, 29-6-2000.