Hezbollah chief backs Lebanese deployment

Updated: 22:08, Wednesday, 9 August 2006

The Hezbollah chief has said his group backs the Lebanese army's proposed deployment to the south but said that Washington was trying to impose Israeli demands on Lebanon through a draft UN resolution.

1 of 2 UN Security Council Negotiations on resolution
UN Security Council
Negotiations on resolution
2 of 2 Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah US trying to impose Israeli demands
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
US trying to impose Israeli demands

The Hezbollah chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has said his group backs the Lebanese army's proposed deployment to the south but said that Washington was trying to impose Israeli demands on Lebanon through a draft UN resolution. 

In a televised speech, Nasrallah said that a seven-point plan presented by the Lebanese government was the least the country should accept as part of a draft resolution to end the fighting.

Meanwhile in New York, French and US diplomats at the United Nations are redrafting the resolution to end the crisis in the Middle East. 

Lebanon demands an immediate ceasefire and a quick withdrawal of thousands of Israeli troops from its south.

Arab League officials have also called for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

The Arab League delegation has warned that Lebanon could erupt in civil war if Beirut's terms were not met.

Israel, which is planning to pull out only when a foreign force and the Lebanese army take over to keep Hezbollah at bay, has vowed in the absence of agreement to expand an offensive in south Lebanon to curb Hezbollah's rocket attacks on Israel.

A vote on a UN resolution to end the war may not happen before Thursday because of continuing political wrangling.

Four weeks of bloodshed have killed about 1,000 Lebanese and more than 100 Israelis.

The conflict was trigged by Hezbollah's seizure of two soldiers in a 12 July cross-border raid.

Live Player

  • Next
  • 13:00 - 13:45

    RTÉ Radio - News at One (Studio Webcam)

  • 13:05 - 13:15

    RTÉ News and Weather

  • Later
  • 17:45 - 18:00

    Nuacht RTÉ

  • 18:01 - 18:35

    RTÉ News: Six One and Weather

News Quiz