Lebanese Army, UNIFIL unearth arms cache near Israeli border
The Lebanese Army and UN peacekeepers found a weapons cache in South Lebanon near the border with Israel Friday, a day after rockets were fired on the Jewish state.
A launcher and several "non-operational rockets" were found in an area near a position of UN peacekeepers in Southern Lebanon, the army said in a statement.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) issued a statement saying a UNIFIL patrol "operating in coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) found an old weapons cache inside two disused bunkers."
The cache contained "approximately 34 Grad-P rockets and some boxes of allied ammunition" and was found in bunkers covered by camouflage nets near the villages of Kfar Shuba and Kfar Hammam close to the border with Israel.
"There is no sign of any recent use of the bunkers and the weapons appear to date from the period of the 2006 conflict," the statement said in reference to Israel”s 34-day war on Lebanon.
UNIFIL commander Major General Claudio Graziano said the weapons would be handed over to the LAF for disposal.
"In accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, UNIFIL and the LAF are taking concrete measures to ensure that the area between the Litani River and the Line of Withdrawal [Blue Line] is free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL," Graziano said.
"Recent developments have prompted us to enhance our joint presence on the ground. It was in the course of this intensified patrolling … that the weapons cache was found," he added.
"Currently UNIFIL Explosive Ordnance Teams together with the LAF are on location for further inspection and to ascertain the precise quantity of the weapons. Thereafter the weapons will be handed over to the LAF for appropriate disposal," the UNIFIL statement said.
The weapons find came a day after three rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into an area around the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, lightly wounding two people, amid heightened fears of a second front opening up in Israel”s Gaza war.
Hizbullah has denied it fired the salvo, while officials in both Israel and Lebanon said it was probably the work of a hard-line Palestinian faction.
Israel on Friday protested to the UN over the firing of rockets from Lebanon which it said highlighted the availability and use of arms in this country.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it had instructed its UN envoy, Gabriela Shalev, to send a protest letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council over the rocket attack.
"Ambassador Shalev noted in the letter that the firing of rockets constitutes a gross violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and confirms Israel”s contentions regarding the availability and use of weapons in Southern Lebanon," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Resolution 1701 set out conditions for an end to Israel”s war on Lebanon in 2006.
"Israel must protect its citizens from the growing threat of rockets being fired by terrorist groups supported by Iran and the extremist axis," said the ministry statement.
It said the firing of rockets "reinforces Israel”s demands to establish effective mechanisms to prevent arms-smuggling into Lebanon. The prevention of arms smuggling – in Lebanon as in Gaza – is a vital element in achieving regional stability, as expressed among others in Resolution 1701."
The ministry said the Lebanese government had to maintain "quiet in Southern Lebanon" and stop "the smuggling of weapons into its territory."
In a related development, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams told Speaker Nabih Berri Friday that the UN was "worried about the recent rocket attack."
"The speaker and I agreed that utmost vigilance was required during this period to avoid any tension from spreading to Lebanon. Our talks focused on the incident that took place yesterday along the South Lebanon border," Williams told reporters after meeting Berri.
"The UN is encouraged by the immediate measures taken by the Lebanese Army, in very close cooperation with UNIFIL, to control the situation and to prevent further incidents from taking place," he added.
"Berri expressed Lebanon”s continued commitment to the implementation of Resolution 1701. It remains very important, particularly during the current difficult circumstances in the region, that all sides fully abide by the requirements of that resolution to help maintain calm and stability in Southern Lebanon."
Williams also met President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Friday.
Siniora told reporters earlier in the day the Lebanese people were against turning their country into "an arena for launching rockets and exchanging regional and international messages."
"The Lebanese do not want Lebanon to be involved in another war. All the Lebanese and in particular the people of the South do not want to be dragged into a conflict that would unleash the Israeli killing machine," he said.
Siniora added that investigations were still under way to determine the identity of the individuals responsible for the rockets” launching.
His remarks came amid reports by the Central News Agency Friday quoting security sources as saying that the "responsible authorities have determined the identity of the perpetrators and are in the process of taking extra measures."
Siniora met Friday with members of Asian parliamentary delegation: Iranian Speaker Ali Larijani, Syrian Speaker Mahmoud al-Abrash, and Indonesian Speaker Agung Laksono.
The Asian delegation also held talks with Sleiman and Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah before departing for Amman later in the day.
The speakers met their Lebanese counterparts upon their arrival Thursday in a visit aimed at discussing the situation in Gaza with the country”s top officials.
On Friday Sleiman described the rocket attack as "suspicious," adding that whoever was responsible for the incident "intended to challenge the people, government, resistance, army and peacekeeping forces."
He added that Israel was the only party to be blamed for the situation in Gaza.
"Israel is to be blamed for not recognizing any of the rights of the Palestinian people," he said. "If the current war was stimulated by rocket attacks by Hamas, Israel”s policy of not recognizing the rights and the identity of the Palestinians stands behind all the violence in the first place."
Also Friday, the March 14 Forces issued a statement praising the Cabinet”s unified stance regarding the rockets incident.
"The government”s position emphasizes Lebanon”s sovereignty by rejecting using the country as an arena for launching rockets, which would give Israel the excuse to retaliate by waging war," the statement said.
The March 14 communique also urged the Cabinet to take some measures to end the presence of Palestinian arms outside refugee camps as agreed by all Lebanese parties during national talks in 2006.
Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said in remarks published in Beirut dailies Friday that Thursday”s rocket attack "could give Israel an additional pretext to launch an offensive against Lebanon."
But Jumblatt added that he was relieved about the fact that Hizbullah had nothing to do with the incident.
"Hizbullah”s non-involvement confirms that the resistance has a defensive nature rather than an offensive one," he said.
Picture: A handout picture from the public information office of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) released to the media shows rockets found in south Lebanon January 9, 2009. U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese army troops found an old cache of rockets near the border with Israel on Friday, a day after at least three rockets were fired into northern Israel. REUTERS/UNIFIL Press Office (LEBANON).