UN Council asked to address Syrian arms smuggling
By Claudia Parsons
July 24, 2007 
Reuters
Original source: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN2443841920070725
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States, Britain and France want U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to pursue ways to stop weapons flowing into Lebanon over the Syrian border, according to a draft U.N. statement on Tuesday.
The policy statement, which its backers hope will be approved by the 15-member U.N. Security Council as soon as this week, also calls on Syria to do more to control its border with Lebanon and for Iran to abide by an arms embargo.
Unlike a resolution, all 15 members of the council have to agree to a statement, which means the text could be revised.
The U.N. coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Michael Williams, warned last week that Syrian arms smuggling to militant groups in Lebanon threatens implementation of a peace deal that ended last summer's war with Israel.
The Council also calls for enhanced cross-border cooperation to secure the Syrian-Lebanese border, the draft statement said.
It welcomes a report by a committee of experts appointed by Ban that recommended a radical overhaul of border procedures which it said were largely incapable of preventing smuggling in their current state. The statement asks Ban to report back on implementing the recommendations.
The Security Council ... expresses grave concern at persistent reports of breaches of the arms embargo along the Lebanon-Syria border, said the draft.
Syria has consistently denied smuggling weapons.
The statement would also express concern over the increase in Israeli violations of Lebanese air space -- something Syria has frequently complained about -- and call for the immediate and unconditional release of two Israeli soldiers whose abduction by Hezbollah sparked last year's war.
A stepped-up U.N. force was deployed in the south of Lebanon after a truce halted Israel's 34-day war with Hezbollah on August 14 last year. The U.N. Security Council resolution that led to the truce called for 15,000 U.N. troops to join a similar number of Lebanese army troops deploying in the south.
The draft statement also addresses the contentious issue of the disputed Shebaa Farms area on the border between Israel, Syria and Lebanon, calling it a key issue in the process of implementing the Security Council resolution ending the war.
A U.N. survey of the Shebaa Farms is expected to be completed by September, paving the way to talks on the fate of the Israeli-controlled area.