Nasrallah says Hizbullah still present near border

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Hizbullah gunmen are still in southern Lebanese towns and villages near the border with Israel, the leader of the terrorist group boasted in an interview broadcast by Al-Jazeera Wednesday. Although the United Nations resolution that ended the war calls for Hizbullah to eventually be disarmed, the UN peacekeeping force moving into the south does not have a mandate to search out weapons. "Now the war is finished. There is no demilitarized zone south of the Litani (River). The resistance (Hizbullah) is present south of the Litani and is present in all of south Lebanon," Nasrallah said. The Litani is 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the border." "I feel sorry for Israeli officials who lie to their people by saying 'We evicted Hizbullah from south Lebanon and we will not allow it to return.' " Nasrallah claimed that residents of border villages were either Hizbullah fighters or supporters. "We are the owners of the land. We are the owners of front villages and towns located near the border (with Israel)." The leader of the Iranian- and Syrian-backed group went so far as to claim: "We are present on the border."