Written question asked by Andrew Rosindell (Conservative) on Monday, 19 February 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 21 February 2007. It was answered by Kim Howells (Labour) on Tuesday, 27 February 2007 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Lebanon: Peacekeeping Operations

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment has she made of the effectiveness of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon in stopping the rearmament of Hezbollah.

Answer: In his letter of 1 December 2006 to the President of the Security Council, the then UN Secretary-General reported that while the UN continued to receive reports of illegal arms smuggling across the Lebanese-Syrian border, they had not been able to verify these reports. We remain concerned by these reports.The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been successful in large parts of its mandate, especially in helping the Lebanese armed forces extend in to the south of Lebanon and in tightening sea and air borders. UNIFIL's mandate means it is limited in what it can do on the land border between Syria and Lebanon without an explicit Lebanese request. So far there has been no such request from the Lebanese and the responsibility for controlling the Syria/Lebanon land border remains with the relevant national authorities.

Secondary information