AFP: The UN resolution for Lebanon, if successful, will mark a “strategic setback” for Iran and Syria, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Monday. WASHINGTON, Aug 14, 2006 (AFP) – The UN resolution for Lebanon, if successful, will mark a “strategic setback” for Iran and Syria, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Monday.
The resolution, adopted unanimously by the UN on Friday and put into force earlier Monday, will prevent Iran and Syria from continuing to provide arms and other support to the Hezbollah militia, whose attacks on northern Israeli sparked the month-long war, he said.
It will also boost the authority of the Lebanese government in the face of Syrian and Iranian meddling in Lebanese affairs, particularly by backing the deployment of Lebanese army troops to Hezbollah strongholds along the Israeli border with a major international military force, he said.
“I think it’s very clear that when this resolution is fully implemented, this is a strategic setback for Iran, this is a strategic setback for Syria, because you will have a strengthened, democratic Lebanon,” he said.
