Beirut (dpa) – United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon arrived Saturday in Lebanon's southern coastal town of Naqoura for talks with the leadership of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). UNIFIL has been the target of a string of attacks in the past year, during which nine Italian and French peacekeepers were wounded. In a statement, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said he hoped that the United Nations would not reduce the size of its force already present in Lebanon. United Nations Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, has expanded a UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon to 12,000 troops. The main task of the force is to ensure stability at the Lebanese-Israeli border. The UN secretary general, who arrived in Beirut on Friday for a three-day visit, told a news conference that he was “deeply concerned” about the military arsenal of Hezbollah. “All arms outside state authority are not acceptable,” he said. Ban will be a keynote speaker at the two-day “Reform and Transitions to Democracy” conference organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Sunday. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/NVGPq Tags: Ban Ki-moon Section: Latest News, Lebanon
