Spain wants EU to help control Syria-Lebanon border
Source: Reuters
By Ingrid Melander VIANA DO CASTELO, Portugal, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The European Union should offer to help Syria control its border with Lebanon by sending equipment, training and experts to monitor against arms smuggling, EU member Spain said on Saturday. The U.N. Security Council voiced grave concern last month about reports that arms smuggled from Syria into Lebanon were reaching Hezbollah guerrilla groups. Damascus has denied involvement. "The idea is to help Syrian authorities by sending equipment, technical assistance, training, and if necessary experts, to guarantee the control of this border," Spain's foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Portugal. "If requested by the Syrian authorities, the European experts could play a monitoring role, but the effective control of the border would be the sole responsibility of Syria and Lebanon," Spain said in a document distributed at the meeting in the coastal town of Viana do Castelo. Moratinos told reporters that EU ambassadors in Brussels would now discuss sending a fact-finding mission to establish whether and how the EU could provide Syria with such assistance. Moratinos, who visited Syria in July, said in the document that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "responded favourably" to the idea that the 27-nation bloc could assist with experts and technical assistance. United Nations officials have quoted Israeli and Lebanese government reports that arms from Syria are reaching both Hezbollah and Palestinian guerrilla groups in Lebanon. An expert team sent by the world body reported in June that Lebanese border officials were unable to stop the smuggling. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said this week he wanted Germany to help arm and train Lebanon's army so that it could protect the country from militant groups that threaten its stability. Lebanon was recently locked in a 15-week battle against al Qaeda-linked militants of Fatah al-Islam at a Palestinian refugee camp.
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