Beirut - Visiting Foreign Ministry official Ivan Lewis said Thursday that Britain had great concerns about the rearming of the Lebanese Shiite Movement, Hezbollah, in southern Lebanon.

"We are very, very concerned at the rearming of Hezbollah, which we believe to a significant extent has taken place, which is in contravention of Resolution 1701," the British official said during a short visit to Lebanon, where he met with Lebanese senior officials.

Damascus  - British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ivan Lewis said Tuesday that there was an "unprecedented opportunity" for a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"We believe that there is now an unprecedented opportunity to resolve one of the oldest and severe conflicts in the world, the Middle East conflict," Lewis told reporters after a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus.

Lewis said that this "opportunity" came after US President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo last June.