UN names panel to investigate Israel for targeting civilians

DAMASCUS • UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad had promised to enforce an arms embargo on Hezbollah under a UN resolution that halted Israel's war with the Lebanese group.

"The president informed me that Syria supports Security Council Resolution 1701 and will help in its implementation," Annan told reporters after talks with Assad in Damascus.

"While stating Syrian objections to the presence of foreign forces along the Syrian-Lebanese border, the president committed to me that Syria will take all necessary measures to implement in full paragraph 15 of the resolution," Annan added, referring to a provision that bans illegal arms shipments to Lebanon.

Annan said Syria would beef up border security and was ready to run joint patrols with the Lebanese army.

Syrian leaders have been angered by an Israeli demand for international troops to deploy on the Lebanese-Syrian border, the main conduit in the past for Hezbollah weapons supplies.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Moualem told reporters later that no weapons were crossing from his country to the guerrillas in Lebanon. "No arms are being smuggled to the resistance (Hezbollah) from Syria," he said.

On the sidelines of a conference in Italy, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres repeated Israel's demand for UN verification of procedures on the Syrian-Lebanese border.

The party of Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said in a statement yesterday that last Saturday night Lebanese security officials allowed arms and ammunition to enter the country from Syria at the main Masnaa crossing point. Lebanese military and security officials who asked not to be named denied the allegations. "There have not been any attempts to bring in explosives from Syria to Lebanon," said one.

Annan later arrived in Qatar, the only Arab state currently with a seat on the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, the United Nations' top human rights body yesterday announced a three-person team to investigate allegations of violations by Israel during its month-long war in Lebanon.

The Human Rights Council, composed of 47 states, last month called for launching a high-level Commission of Inquiry to investigate what it called "systematic targeting and killing" of Lebanese civilians by Israel.

Mexico's Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, who serves as chairman of the UN Human Rights Council, announced the appointment yesterday after holding consultations.

He named Clemente Baena Soares, Mohamed Chande Othman and Stelios Perrakis as the commission's three members.