01 September 2006
International donors have pledged more than US$ 940 million for relief and reconstruction efforts in Lebanon, nearly double the target amount. The funds raised at a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, will go to short-term needs, from shelter for those who lost their homes in Israel's war with Hezbollah to removing unexploded bombs. Lebanon hopes to hold a bigger conference later this year to raise money for longer-term reconstruction. Lebanese prime minister Sinioria promised the donors conference that the terror movement Hezbollah would have no access to the funds raised.
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan has met with Syria's president Bashar al-Assad to seek the key Hezbollah backer's support for the implementation of the UN resolution on Lebanon. Annan was expected to press Syria to join international efforts to stop the flow of arms across its border to Hezbollah and urge Syrian authorities to do what they can to help win the release of two Israeli soldiers captured by the guerrillas in a raid on 12 July that sparked the war. Israel demands the deployment of peacekeepers along the Syria-Lebanon border, but Assad is strongly opposed to their presence, calling such a move a hostile act. His foreign minister reportedly threatened to close the border, which is Lebanon's only land link to the Arab world. Lebanon has its own forces along the frontier, and Annan said peacekeepers would go only if asked by Lebanon's government. Another issue of contention between Syria and the United Nations is Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory where the corners of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet. Assad refuses to draw a definite border there before Israeli forces withdraw from the area. UN Resolution 1701 calls on Annan to come up with proposals for resolving the issue.
Before flying to Damascus on Thursday from Jordan, Annan said the time was ripe for normal ties between Lebanon and Israel and said the UN resolution that brought an end to the fighting could help pave the way. "This is the opportunity to move things for normal relations between Israel and Lebanon, if Resolution 1701 is implemented in its entirety," Annan said. "We need to implement 1701 and capitalize on building relations between Israel and Lebanon" as well as with other Arab neighbors to "stabilize the region."
