Lebanon: Hezbollah will stop attacks
By Daniel Sobelman, Ha'aretz Correspondent and AP
The Hezbollah and other guerrilla organizations fighting Israel in southern Lebanon will have no reason to continue their resistance after Israeli troops withdraw to the international border, Lebanon Prime Minister Salim Hoss said on Friday.
"Our position is clear: We support the resistance as long as there is occupation. When occupation no longer exists, there will be no resistance," Hoss said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation's Arabic service.
The statement is considered the clearest and strongest one to date by the Lebanese leadership regarding the future of the Hezbollah. It also echoes similar remarks attributed to Bashar Assad, Syrian President Hafez Assad's influential son, who is reportedly being groomed to succeed his father.
Bashar Assad was quoted by the London-based Arabic weekly magazine Al Wasat in August as saying he expected the Hezbollah guerrillas to return to "normal life" following an Israeli withdrawal.
But the Lebanese prime minister told the BBC that Lebanon would not consider asking the Hezbollah to curtail its activities as a pre-condition for resuming peace talks between Lebanon and Israel. "Until Israel withdraws from Lebanese territory, it is not in (Lebanon's) interest to stop the resistance" and Lebanon will continue to provide "political and moral support," he said.
Hoss was skeptical about Prime Minister Ehud Barak's pledge to withdraw Israeli soldiers from southern Lebanon by July 2000. "These promises are not serious," he said.
He also reiterated his country's opposition to the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and denied reports that Lebanon would be ready to allow some Palestinian refugees to make their home in Lebanon in return for a reduction in the country's foreign debt.
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