US Criticism to ‘Lack’ of UN Action against Hezbollah’s Activities

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US Criticism to ‘Lack’ of UN Action against Hezbollah’s Activities

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Friday that the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was "not doing its job effectively" against Hezbollah.

Haley told reporters in New York that the UNIFIL commander shows "embarrassing lack of understanding" about Hezbollah's activities.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Arab Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan said on his official Twitter account “the efforts of the Lebanese army and its ability to maintain safety and stability in the nation prove that no one other than legitimate institutions do so.”

“Nationalism, not sectarianism, builds nations," the minister said.

He made the tweet during his visit to Beirut where he so far met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Kataeb Party leader Sami Gemayel and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Gegaea.

The tweet also came as an indirect response to claims made by “Hezbollah” that it is protecting the Lebanese border with Syria.

The Lebanese army has for the past week been battling ISIS on the country's eastern border with Syria to expel the militants from the area.

Several Lebanese parties that are rivals with Hezbollah launched a wide criticism against the stances recently made by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah who called for coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian armies.

Nasrallah also made a call for adding the Syrian army to Hezbollah’s already disputed tripartite equation “The Army, the people and the resistance.”

Among his critics were the Future Movement and LF leader Geagea.

A Future statement blasted Nasrallah’s talk about the soldiers taken captive by ISIS in 2014, saying the Hezbollah chief was trying to blackmail the Lebanese government through this issue to get it to coordinate with the Syrian regime.

As for Geagea, he accused Nasrallah of causing harm to the Lebanese army by claiming it was coordinating with the Syrian military and Hezbollah in the “Juroud Dawn” offensive that began last Saturday against ISIS.



Yemen Busts Attempt to Smuggle over 1.5 Million Narcotic Pills into Saudi Arabia

Officials oversee the destruction of narcotics seized during drug busts on the Yemeni-Saudi border. (Saba)
Officials oversee the destruction of narcotics seized during drug busts on the Yemeni-Saudi border. (Saba)
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Yemen Busts Attempt to Smuggle over 1.5 Million Narcotic Pills into Saudi Arabia

Officials oversee the destruction of narcotics seized during drug busts on the Yemeni-Saudi border. (Saba)
Officials oversee the destruction of narcotics seized during drug busts on the Yemeni-Saudi border. (Saba)

Yemen’s border authorities announced on Thursday that they busted an attempt to smuggle over 1.5 million narcotic pills from the Houthi-held capital Sanaa to Saudi Arabia.

Officials suspect that such large amounts of narcotics is an indication that the Captagon industry and the manufacturing of other drugs could have moved from Syria to Yemeni regions held by the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

The Captagon industry had thrived for years under the now ousted regime of President Bashar al-Assad. He was overthrown by opposition factions in December. Iranian militias had used the Captagon trade to finance their operations in Syria.

Head of security at the Wadiah border crossing Omair al-Azab said the drugs were concealed inside a cooling truck.

Security forces at the crossing were suspicious of the truck and they searched it thoroughly, leading to the bust, he added.

During preliminary investigations, the truck driver confessed that the pills belonged to a smuggler in Sanaa, continued Azab.

He was tasked with delivering the illicit cargo to a person, whose identity he did not know, in the Saudi city of Sharurah.

He revealed that authorities have foiled several drug smuggling attempts in recent months. They seized a ton of cannabis, 15,000 Captagon pills, four kilograms of methamphetamine, and 27,300 other pills.

In February, over three tons of different drugs, seized during various busts, were destroyed in the presence of representatives of concerned Yemeni and Saudi authorities, he added.

Drugs smuggling gangs resort to innovative ways to conceal their illicit cargo, such as hiding them in watermelons, spare tires and the front seats of vehicles, Azab said.

Security forces at the border will remain on alert for any suspicious activity and to defend the nation, he vowed.

Attache at the Yemen Embassy in Riyadh Saleh al-Baidhani warned that such smuggling attempts may be a sign that Captagon was now being manufactured by the Houthis in Yemen.

This demands intensified border security and greater security cooperation between the legitimate Yemeni government and Saudi authorities, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He confirmed that trucks smuggling drugs were coming from areas held by the Houthis.

Baidhani slammed the drug trade that is “destroying Arab youth”.