Lebanese official: Hezbollah controls defense policy

Hezbollah controls Lebanon's defense policy, not the government, a senior Lebanese Christian politician said on Wednesday, amid calls by the United Nations for the Shiite party to disarm its militia. "The decision of when and how to defend Lebanon is currently not in the hands of the government," Samir Geagea, who heads the Lebanese Forces, said.

"An armed force independent of the army exists in Lebanon, and we do not know what that force intends to do," he added, referring to the Syrian and Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim party and its militia. (AFP)