Qaouk: Seized arms were left over from earlier war

Source: Daily Star staff, 21-11-2006
BEIRUT: Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, Hizbullah`s commander in South Lebanon, said Monday that Katyusha rockets and explosives seized by UNIFIL peacekeeping troops last week were leftovers from the previous conflict with "Israel" rather than the July-August war. UN peacekeepers policing a cease-fire between Hizbullah and "Israel" said over the weekend that they had seized rockets similar to those used by the resistance during this past summer`s war. Qaouk met Monday with Jean-Nicolas Marti, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in Tyre. "Direct contacts are taking place between the ICRC and Hizbullah," Marti said. He said the discussion with Qaouk was "constructive," and that the ICRC maintained its interest in the humanitarian condition of all detainees "anywhere, anytime." Qaouk later met with a delegation from the World Conference to Support the Resistance. "The current governmental crisis will no longer continue ... Change and reform will be implemented soon," Qaouk said. The Hizbullah commander added that Lebanon would not be part of "American projects, but a resistant force to any "Israeli" attack."