The Lebanese government said on Tuesday it was launching a judicial probe into a telecommunications network the militant group Hezbollah has set up across the country with the alleged help of Iran.

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi told reporters after a marathon cabinet meeting last night that the network is illegal and the government should pursue the matter through the legal system.

Hezbollah insists the network is needed as part of its resistance struggle against Israel and for security purposes.

"This network is part of our military arsenal, and the Council of Ministers cannot deprive us of it or prevent us from defending the country, whether it pleases some or not," Hezbollah's number two, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said on Monday.

Aridi, however, said the cabinet had rejected these assertions and planned to hand over to the Arab League documents on the case and on the suspected Iranian involvement.

The cabinet overnight also decided to reassign the head of security at the airport, Brigadier General Wafiq Choukair, following allegations that he was close to Hezbollah.

He was allegedly aware of surveillance cameras which Hezbollah is said to have set up near Beirut airport to monitor the comings and goings of anti-Syrian politicians and foreign officials. A judicial probe has also been launched into the airport case.

Aridi said that Choukair was being reassigned to the army, while "the government will pursue the issue of the cameras installed by Hezbollah to monitor the airport runway."

Al-Akhbar newspaper, close to the opposition, said Tuesday that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government was pushing toward a conflagration in the politically divided country by removing Choukair and tackling the issue of the telecommunications network.

The issue of the cameras first came to light last week when Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt accused Hezbollah of using them to monitor traffic at the airport and to possibly fly in arms from Iran. Hezbollah has rejected the allegations.

-AFP/NOW Staff