Lebanon's defence minister has said that a truckload of ammunition belonging to Hezbollah, seized on Thursday in an east Beirut suburb, will be used by the Lebanese army in case of future Israeli attacks.
Elias Murr said on Friday that the ammunitions would not be returned as demanded by the group.
After a meeting with Claudio Graziano, a major-general in charge of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Murr said: "The truck and its content are now with the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon. If Israel carries out another violation, we will use these weapons to confront it."
Murr told Graziano that "the Lebanese army deployed in southern Lebanon has orders to confront Israeli forces in case of any new violation" of Lebanese sovereignty.
He said that the truckload of ammunition came from within Lebanon.
"Not even a mosquito" could cross the Syrian-Lebanese border, Murr said in reference to allegations of Syrian assistance to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah demand
Mohamad Yazbeck, a senior Hezbollah official, reiterated on Friday that the seized truck was carrying munitions destined for his group's fighters and asked for the weaponry to be returned.
At Friday prayers in the eastern city of Baalbek, Yazbeck said: "The security and judicial authorities should return the truck which was carrying arms for the resistance from the (eastern) Bekaa to the south.
He said "the resistance did not breach any agreement by transporting these arms ... in line with the 'ministerial declaration'" of Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's prime minister, which recognised the right to resist Israeli occupation.
In a televised interview late on Thursday, Murr had said he would have liked to see Hezbollah offer the shipment to the Lebanese army.
Restraint
Lebanese and Israeli troops clashed across the border on Wednesday for the first time since last year's war. The incident was sparked by Israeli sappers moving towards the border to clear unexploded ordnance.
Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, called for restraint, saying the clashes breached the ceasefire that ended the conflict.
UN Security Council resolutions have called for the disarming of all groups in Lebanon.
Hezbollah's Yazbeck said: "We are still in a confrontation with the enemy which continues to occupy parts of our land and continues to hold Lebanese detainees."