Lebanon: Explosion in a weapons depot in the south

BEIRUT- Explosions occurred Tuesday in a weapons depot in a village in southern Lebanon

• explosions occurred Tuesday in a weapons depot in a village in southern Lebanon, said a spokesman for the army, which has completed closed this area considered a stronghold of Hezbollah.
  
      Several media have claimed that the stock belonged to the Shiite party.
  
      According to the spokesman, “several explosions occurred in an abandoned house in the village of Khirbet Selm,” a Hezbollah stronghold located 20 kilometres from the border with Israel.
  
      “This is a weapons depot dating from the war of July” in 2006 between Israel and the Shiite party, said the spokesman.
  
      Asked about the identity of the owner of the deposit, he said that “there was only Hezbollah in the zone” before the 2006 deployment of the Lebanese army in south the first time in 30 years.
  
      According to Lebanese television and websites, the deposit contains rockets, automatic weapons and ammunition belonging to Hezbollah.
  
      The army quickly closed the area and prevented journalists and residents from approaching.
  
      Resolution 1701, which resulted in the cessation of hostilities but not to a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, requires strict compliance with an embargo on arms to the Lebanese and foreign militias present in Lebanon.
  
      The arsenal of Hezbollah, a movement which advocates the fight against Israel, is no longer visible in the south since 2006, but it remains powerful and even tripled since the conflict, according to the Hebrew state, with 42,000 missiles capable of reaching cities in southern Israel.
  
      The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has repeatedly warned that the military capability held by Hezbollah was a major challenge to the sovereignty of Lebanon.
  
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.