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U.S., Israel urge against rearming Hezbollah

A member of Hezbollah gives U.S. currency Friday to a Lebanese man who lost his house during the monthlong Israeli offensive. The exchange took place at a school in Bourj el-Barajneh, a southern suburb of Beirut. . (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Paul Richter Los Angeles Times
A member of Hezbollah gives U.S. currency Friday to a Lebanese man who lost his house during the monthlong Israeli offensive. The exchange took place at a school in Bourj el-Barajneh, a southern suburb of Beirut. . (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

WASHINGTON – The United States and Israel have launched a diplomatic effort to prevent other countries from helping rearm Hezbollah, warning that a resumption of the weapons flow could ignite new fighting in Lebanon just as the cease-fire begins to take hold.

Officials have been pressing major world arms suppliers – notably Russia and China – not to allow their weaponry to find its way to the Lebanese militant group. They also have been urging Turkish officials to prevent any flow of weapons across their land or airspace.

Israeli officials, who were jolted by the sophistication of Hezbollah’s missiles during the 34-day war, fear that the rearmament of Hezbollah could put them face to face in the future with weapons with an even greater capability to reach into Israel and to overcome its defenses. Israeli officials have made clear that they would try to destroy any shipment they detect, although such an attack probably would bring a Hezbollah retaliation and set off new fighting.

“We’re very concerned about this issue,” one Israeli official said in an interview. “It’s the most urgent one on the table right now.”

The stepped-up effort by U.S. and Israeli officials to cut the weapons flow to Hezbollah came as U.N. officials appealed Friday for greater European participation in an expanded multinational force for Lebanon. President Bush urged the French to increase its pledge of 200 additional troops.

“France has said they’d send some troops,” Bush said at Camp David, Md. “We hope they send more.”

Italy, meanwhile, formally agreed Friday to contribute troops to a multinational United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. The government of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the number had not yet been determined but officials have said they might send as many as 3,000 soldiers, a contingent that probably would end up being one of the largest.

As Israel sought to stem the flow of more advanced munitions to militant fighters, officials in Israel disclosed Friday that a senior delegation visited Moscow this week to complain that Russia had sold sophisticated laser-guided Kornet anti-tank weapons to Iran and Syria, which in turn passed them along to Hezbollah. Russia disputed the charge, saying it kept tight controls on such sales.