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United Nations: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged opposition groups in Lebanon to end blockades of roads and the airport, his Lebanon envoy said on Thursday, warning that the crisis was the worst since the civil war.
"We remain gravely concerned about the potential for further escalation of the situation," UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen told the UN Security Council.
"The secretary-general urges all parties to cease immediately these riots and to reopen all roads in the country," Roed-Larsen said.
He said recent clashes showed Lebanon faced "challenges of a magnitude unseen since the end of the civil war," and warned of serious regional repercussions.
Roed-Larsen said Ban stood firmly behind the "legitimate Lebanese government," and said the presence of Lebanese and foreign militias was a major challenge to the government.
"Hezbollah ... maintains a massive para-military infrastructure separate from the state," Roed-Larsen said.
He said Ban urged all parties with ties to Hezbollah, particularly Syria and Iran, to support the group's transformation into a solely political party.
Roed-Larsen also called for renewed political dialogue to resolve the stalemate over electing a president, and said he supported calls for election of army chief General Michel Suleiman who has been agreed as a consensual candidate.
Lebanese rivals have agreed that Suleiman should fill the presidency, vacant since the term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud expired five months ago, but his confirmation by parliament has been derailed by a dispute over cabinet seats.
Roed-Larsen said Lebanon remained "a battleground for actors seeking to destabilise the region for their own benefit and aspirations of dominance."
He called for a normalisation of ties with Syria, and said Israel should stop violating Lebanese territorial integrity by sending its aircraft into Lebanese airspace.
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