Let's accept Hezbollah: Annan

He was responding to a question about the disarmament of Hezbollah, which showed its strength on Tuesday at a huge pro-Syrian rally in Beirut attended by thousands of people who chanted anti-US slogans.

Annan said the world needs to accept that in every society different groups may hold different views. "Of course, we need to be careful of the forces at work in Lebanese society as we move forward," he said.

"But even the Hezbollah — if I read the message on the placards they are using — they are talking about non-interference by outsiders... which is not entirely at odds with the Security Council resolution, that there should be withdrawal of Syrian troops," Annan told reporters.

"But that having been said, we need to recognise that they are a force in society that one will have to factor in as we implement the resolution," he said.

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Hizbollah should be a factor in Syria withdrawal resolution:

[World News]: New York, Mar 9 : United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said the world community would have to recognise that Hizbollah is a force in the Lebanese society and factor it in the implementation of the Security Council resolution that calling for immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops and disarming of the country's militias.

In the wake of huge pro-Syria rally organised by Hizbollah in Beirut, which was attended by thousand of people chanting anti-US slogans, Annan told reporters esterday that it is natural for any society to have different groups who do not hold identical views and that is a fact which needs to be accepted.

"Of course, we need to be careful of the forces at work in Lebanese society as we move forward. But even the Hizbollah are talking about non-interference by outsiders" which is not entirely at odds with the Security Council resolution that there should be withdrawal of the Syrian troops," he stressed.

But he added, "we need to recognise that they are a force in the society that one will have to factor in as we implement the resolution," he said.

Hizbollah is one of the best organized armed groups in Lebanon. It is backed by Iran and enjoys strong support among Lebanon's Shiites.

The protest it organised put into shade the anti-Syrian demonstrations organized so far. The placard they carried included "Thank you Syria" and denouncing foreign interference.

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UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations must recognize Hezbollah as a force to be reckoned with in implementing the U.N. resolution calling for the withdrawal of all Syrian forces from Lebanon and the disarmament of the country's militias, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday.

He was responding to a question about the disarmament of Hezbollah, which showed its strength Tuesday at a huge pro-Syrian rally in Beirut attended by hundreds of thousands of people who chanted anti-U.S. slogans. Two huge banners read in English: "Thank you Syria" and "No to foreign interference."

Annan said the world needs to accept that in every society different groups may hold different views.

"Of course, we need to be careful of the forces at work in Lebanese society as we move forward," he said.

"But even the Hezbollah - if I read the message on the placards they are using - they are talking about non-interference by outsiders ... which is not entirely at odds with the Security Council resolution, that there should be withdrawal of Syrian troops," Annan told reporters.

"But that having been said, we need to recognize that they are a force in society that one will have to factor in as we implement the resolution," he said.

The rally by the Hezbollah vastly outnumbered anti-Syrian rallies of the past weeks. The Syrian-backed Lebanese guerrilla group, which is funded by Iran, is the best armed and best organized faction in Lebanon and enjoys strong support among Lebanon's Shiite Muslim community.

Many of the signs at the rally in Riad Solh square denounced U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for Syrian troops and intelligence agents to leave Lebanon immediately and demands the disarming of militias, referring to Hezbollah.

Syrian soldiers entered Lebanon in 1976 to try to quell a civil war that began the previous year. They remained through 14 years of fighting that ended in 1990, and some 14,000 are still there, though they began redeploying from central Lebanon toward the border began late Tuesday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=UN%20Lebanon%20Syria