Global Security Newswire

Lebanon has ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, becoming the 148th nation to do so, the treaty's implementing organization announced today (see GSN, Nov. 24).

The treaty has nearly universal membership, with 180 signatories, but just 15 of 26 nations in the Middle East and South Asia have ratified the pact.

The ban cannot formally enter into force without the ratification of 44 specific nations (see GSN, Nov. 20). Nine holdouts remain: China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States (Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization release, Nov. 25).