Israel: Iran, Syria Continue to Transfer Arms to Hizbullah, Tougher U.N. Action Needed
Israel accused Iran and Syria on Thursday of sending weapons to Hizbullah in violation of a U.N. cease-fire after it said one of the group”s arms warehouses in south Lebanon blew up.
Israel also demanded tougher action by United Nations peacekeepers against Hizbullah arms stockpiles.
Lebanese officials say explosions Tuesday in a supposedly abandoned building on the outskirts of the village of Khirbet Selm were caused by a fire in a Hizbullah weapons storage facility.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Thursday that the incident was evidence of "Iranian and Syrian efforts to continue to transfer weapons to Hizbullah in direct and flagrant violation" of the U.N. cease-fire that ended the 2006 war between the Jewish state and the Lebanese group.
The Israeli foreign ministry called on UNIFIL and France, Italy and Spain, participants in the force, "to act more energetically following information about Hizbullah stocks of weapons."
In a statement, the ministry also asked U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to find out the "results of the U.N. investigation" following Tuesday”s explosions.
A senior Israeli officer told reporters the warehouse contained short-range rockets that were smuggled from Syria. The warehouse was one of dozens of similar Hizbullah arms depots across south Lebanon and part of a "buildup" of the group”s strength there, the officer said.
The Israeli army circulated photos of a building severely damaged by the blasts, taken by an unmanned Israeli aircraft.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in the south called the incident a "serious violation" of the cease-fire.
"UNIFIL considers this incident a serious violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, notably the provision that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of operations between the Litani River and the Blue Line," UNIFIL said Wednesday.
Hizbullah has not commented on the explosion.
Also Wednesday, the head of the Israeli military”s operations branch, Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said: "This epitomizes the problem that we are facing in south Lebanon."
"This nonstate terror organization is growing and becoming a semi-military organization. It poses a major threat to the state of Israel," he said in a telephone briefing for foreign journalists.