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Middle East

My Lords, I entirely accept my noble friend’s point that it is easier to identify where there might be some influence on Hamas; it is not easy to see where the influences on Hezbollah are other than among those who would prefer it to continue to fight than not. However, we are trying hard to persuade even those countries that their best interests and security will also, in the long term, be better provided for if they try to assist in ending the violence of Hezbollah across from Lebanon and into Israel. The Lebanese Government are entitled to survive. One of the great difficulties in this phase of events is the risk to the Lebanese Government, who have, as a result of United Nations decisions—resolution 1559, in particular—had a responsibility to disarm Hezbollah. The other countries in the region, in as much as they have any regard for the survival of the Lebanese Government, should be assisting in that project.