Netanyahu to Hold Security Talks on Situation in Lebanon

Israeli radio reported on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was planning to hold talks with his government on the situation in Lebanon. The radio gave no further details.

A spokesman for Netanyahu, questioned by AFP, would not confirm or deny that the meeting would include discussions on Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Israel's vice-prime minister Silvan Shalom on Sunday said that the formation of a Lebanese government led by Hizbullah would be a "very, very dangerous development."

Lebanon is struggling to resolve a political crisis which erupted when 11 ministers belonging to Hizbullah resigned earlier this month, bringing down Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government.

The resignations came amid a dispute over a U.N. probe into the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, former premier Rafik Hariri, with reports suggesting the final conclusions will implicate Hizbullah.

Lebanon's political parties are now jostling to try to form a new government, with Iranian-backed Hizbullah potentially leading any new coalition.

In an interview with public radio, Shalom said such a formulation "would be a very, very dangerous development, because we would in fact have an Iranian government on Israel's northern border."

Israel accuses Hizbullah of being financed and armed by Tehran.

Shalom said Hizbullah would be taking control of "a sovereign state, its army, its police and its security forces."

Shalom accused Iran of using Hizbullah in "a strategy that envisages the creation of a new Persian empire developing nuclear weapons and taking control of the Middle East and its oil resources while fomenting revolutions against the current regimes."

Iran denies having any ambition to develop nuclear weapons and says it is merely seeking nuclear power for peaceful purposes, despite accusations by western powers and the Jewish state.