The U.N. Security Council resolution that stopped fighting between Israel and Hezbollah provided «huge opportunities» for the Lebanese government to extend authority over all its territory, a top United Nations envoy said Saturday after meeting with Lebanese officials. Terje Roed-Larsen, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's envoy to Lebanon and Syria, arrived in Beirut on Friday night along with Annan's special adviser, Vijay Nambiar. The two were talking with Lebanese officials in an effort to fully implement Resolution 1701, which prompted Israel and Hezbollah to halt hostilities on Monday after 34 days. «There now are huge opportunities ... for the Lebanese people and the government of Lebanon to continue to build democracy and solidify the authority of the state of Lebanon on all its territory,» Roed-Larsen said after meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh. Roed-Larsen said his talks were «constructive, which gives hope for the work which the mission has been dispatched to do.» He did not elaborate. The U.N. envoy also held talks with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and was to meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and other Lebanese politicians during his visit, which ends Sunday, according to a report of the Associated Press. Roed-Larsen's visit coincided with the arrival in Lebanon of 49 French soldiers, the first reinforcement of U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. Some 15,000 U.N. troops are expected to join the same number of Lebanese army troops deployed to south Lebanon.
