(AFP) - The UN resolution to halt the fighting in Lebanon, if successful, will mark a "strategic setback" for Iran and Syria, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The resolution, adopted unanimously by the UN on Friday and put into force early Monday, will prevent Iran and Syria from continuing to provide arms and other support to the Hezbollah militia, whose attacks on northern Israel sparked the month-long war, he said.
It will also boost the authority of the Lebanese government in the face of Syrian and Iranian meddling in Lebanese affairs, particularly by backing the deployment of Lebanese army troops to Hezbollah strongholds along the Israeli border with a major international military force, he said.
"I think it's very clear that when this resolution is fully implemented, this is a strategic setback for Iran, this is a strategic setback for Syria, because you will have a strengthened, democratic Lebanon, you'll have a more stable area along that border," he said.
"You will not have Hezbollah roaming freely in the south of Lebanon. Iran and Syria will not have had the ability to rearm Hezbollah," he said.
"So, clearly, that puts a crimp in the Iran-Hezbollah operating style, if it is fully implemented," he said.
McCormack said that despite a number of small skirmishes Monday between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters inside southern Lebanon, "thus far the parties seem to be largely complying with the terms of the resolution".
But the State Department spokesman was unable to provide any details on how other key aspects of the UN resolution were to be implemented, most importantly the deployment of Lebanese and international forces into southern Lebanon, the disarming of Hezbollah and the release of two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah on July 12 sparked the latest fighting.
"I'm not going to set a specific timeline," he said of the troop deployments. "It just needs to get done as quickly as possible."