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.

He also said Britain had made it "very clear to the Israeli government that (its) air incursions are a breach of Resolution 1701," Lewis told reporters after meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Sallkouh.

Salloukh denied that the Hezbollah was rearming. "The last UN report on the implementation of 1701 says nothing on the smuggling of arms," he said during a joint press conference with Lewis.

"Hezbollah's arms are an internal Lebanese affair," Salloukh added.

UN resolution 1701 ended a 33-day war by Israel on Hezbollah in July 2006. The resolution calls on all militant movements in Lebanon including Hezbollah, to hand over their arms and says only the Lebanese army should be in charge of security in the south.

The London Times newspaper reported Wednesday that Hezbollah had stockpiled 40,000 rockets near the border with Israel and was training its guerrillas to use missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv.

According to the report, militants are being trained in the use of both long-range, ground-to-ground missiles and anti-aircraft missiles against Israel.

Last month Hezbollah's Secretary General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah pledged, if Israel attacks Lebanon, his group would launch missiles at Tel Aviv.

Tension heightened on the Lebanese-Israeli border after an arms depot belonging to Hezbollah blew up in southern Lebanon last month.(dpa)