Sleiman briefed on letter to UN citing Israeli violations
World body expected to study complaints in closed-door meeting
President Michel Sleiman was briefed Thursday by Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh on a letter Lebanon sent to the UN Security Council that will cite Israeli breaches of Security Council Resolution 1701 and Lebanese sovereignty. Sleiman’s press office issued a statement saying Israel must implement Resolution 1701 and must withdraw its troops from Shebaa Farms, Kfar Shuba and the northern part of Ghajar.
The UN was expected to hold a closed-doors meeting Thursday to look into three letters it had received – one from Lebanon and two from Israel – regarding the latest incidents in south Lebanon related to the explosion of an arms depot in the Khirbet Silim and repercussions of a mishap between the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and Khirbet Silim residents in which 14 peacekeepers were lightly wounded.
Lebanon had sent a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon calling on the international body not to issue any decisions before the completion of the joint probe by the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL with regards to the arms depot blast on the outskirts of Khirbet Silim.
The letter, which also touched on Israel’s building of an unmanned observation post in Kfar Shuba, stressed Lebanon’s rejection of any changes to the rules of engagement under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which put an end to the summer 2006 war with Israel.
The Israeli observation post is located in the Kfar Shuba Hills, just outside the disputed Shebaa Farms – a sliver of land rich in water resources located at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel
Last week the Lebanese Army asked UNIFIL to remove the outpost.
On Thursday, Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted high-ranking diplomatic sources as saying that attempts to change UNIFIL’s rules of engagement “will not reach anywhere.”
Hizbullah’s second in command Sheikh Naim Qassem said Wednesday the south Lebanon explosion that raised tensions along the border with Israel was set off by old shells, not a secret arms cache, a senior Hizbullah official said Wednesday.
The comments marked the group’s first comment on the nature of last week’s blast, which Israel and UN officials called a violation of UN Resolution 1701.
The resolution prohibits guerrillas from engaging in military activities in south Lebanon and forbids weapon smuggling to Hizbullah.
But the group is believed to continue to have a clandestine presence in the area.
After the explosion in an abandoned building in Khirbet Silim, about 15 kilometers from the Israeli border, Israel accused Iran and Syria of violating those conditions by sending weapons to Hizbullah.
“There is no violation of Resolution 1701,” Qassem said.
“What happened … was a normal incident that had to do with leftover shells collected during and after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon” in 2000, he said.
Qassem spoke in an interview with the Qatari Al-Watan newspaper to be published at a later date. Excerpts of the interview were provided by Hizbullah’s media office Wednesday.
Qassem said Israel exaggerated the Khirbet Silim incident in an attempt to deflect from its occupation as well as its daily violations of Lebanon’s airspace.
Meanwhile, the press office of the Lebanese Forces (LF) issued a statement Thursday after LF leader Samir Geagea’s meeting with US Ambassador Michele Sison during which he called for the US to pressure Israel to stop violating Resolution 1701.
The statement added that the two officials emphasized the significance of the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL’s role to stop any violations of the resolution.
Geagea called for the “US to quickly send its military aid to assist the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces.