Israel considers asking Canada to help stem flow of arms to Hezbollah

[tuvor]

Kelly Patrick, CanWest News Service; National Post
Published: Wednesday, August 16, 2006

TORONTO - Israel's ambassador to Ottawa is floating the possibility of asking Canada to help patrol Lebanon's coast and its border with Syria to keep smuggled arms from reaching Hezbollah.

While he cautioned that it was still ''early days,'' Alan Baker said Tuesday he plans to discuss Canada's potential contribution with the Prime Minister's Office and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay in the next few days.

He said Israel is considering dispatching Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to Ottawa for talks on the subject.

''I think there's more that Canada can do now,'' Baker said in a conference call with reporters and members of the Canadian Jewish community.

(snip)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office remained tight-lipped Tuesday about Canada's possible role in the United Nations force in Lebanon, which is expected to swell to 15,000 troops under the terms of a Security Council resolution passed last Friday.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=3cac05b6-a3b8-4f29-a928-679980ab1938

[daleo]

1. Sorry, the army is tied up in Afghanistan

And the navy is busy defending the North from the Toronto AIDS conference, as near as I can tell from Harper's actions.