BEIRUT - United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Lebanon on Friday to discuss attacks on UN peacekeepers in the south, a UN-backed tribunal that has indicted Hezbollah men over Rafik al-Hariri's killing, and the fallout of a revolt in neighboring Syria.
The secretary-general's trip made waves even before he arrived, with one Hezbollah leader saying he was not welcome, a stance criticized by Lebanese politicians opposed to the armed Shi'ite Islamist movement and its Syrian and Iranian patrons.Hezbollah accepted an expansion of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south after its devastating 2006 war with Israel, but rejects a UN Security Council resolution that demands that it lay down its weapons, as all other Lebanese armed groups did after the 1975-90 civil war.
