A claim made Monday by Syrian National Coalition member Kamal al-Labwani, that Syria has transferred chemical weapons to Hezbollah, was echoed Tuesday by another politician.
MP Khaled el Daher, a member of Lebanon's Al Mustakbal party, asked the United Nations to send international inspectors to Lebanon, to inspect Hezbollah's weapons stores. He claims that he has “well founded” information, according to which Hezbollah recently received chemical weapons from Syria's president Bashar al-Assad.
"We stand before a crucial moment, in which Assad and his ally Hassan Nasrallah are trying to turn Lebanon into a shelter for the senior officials of the Syrian regime, if it collapses,” he said. “Transferring the chemical weapons to Lebanon is part and parcel of Bashar al-Assad's plan.”
El Daher warned that Hezbollah would not hesitate to use chemical weapons againt the Lebanese people. “It is waiting to see what happens to the regime in Damascus, and waiting for the zero hour to begin carrying out the Middle Eastern earthquake that Assad promised to bring about if his regime falls.”
Saudi newspaper Al Watanreported Monday that Al-Assad has smuggled part of his chemical weapons arsenal to Hezbollah in a bid to evade international inspection.
The report quoted Syrian National Coalition member Kamal al-Labwani as claiming that:
"The Syrian regime has transferred some of its chemical weapons arsenal to its ally Hezbollah aboard trucks used to transport vegetables."
The article published Monday also included a claim that the Assad regime had covertly moved significant parts of its chemical weapons aboard Russian ships docked along the Syrian coastline.
"We have credible information indicating that the Assad regime has smuggled part of its chemical arsenal to Russian ships in barrels," al-Labwani added.
The Syrian and Iraqi governments have both strongly denied the report.