U.N. Warns Against Deteriorating Security Situation in South
The United Nations has warned against the deteriorating security situation in south Lebanon in view of the Kfarshouba and Khirbet Selm incidents which "represent a threat to stability in the region."
The warning was made by Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, during a Security Council meeting on the Middle East.
Taranco urged both the Israeli and Lebanese sides to "end" their violations of Security Council Resolution 1701 which halted a 34-day war between the Jewish state and Hizbullah in the summer of 2006.
In Lebanon, he said, investigations into violations of Resolution 1701 in south Lebanon were ongoing, while Israeli air violations took place almost daily.
Taranco said that in meetings with Lebanese and Israeli officials and political leaders in the past week, Michael Williams, United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, had stressed the gravity of violations of Resolution 1701.
"To defuse the situation, the Special Coordinator had also visited Israel, where he had raised the question about the newly erected watchtower in Kfarshouba and requested its removal," Taranco added.
Gabriela Shalev of Israel read an excerpt from a letter appearing in al-Mustaqbal on 16 July on the explosion of the arms depot in Khirbet Selm. Written by residents of the town, the letter addressed President Michel Suleiman and the leaders of Hizbullah. A line from the letter stated: "If you, as you claim, tie your activity with the religion and with Allah, then you must empty the residential areas of weaponry and ammunition, and of all else that threatens our lives."
She said the explosion had demonstrated that Hizbullah, together with its two sponsors, who were members of the United Nations, continued to operate south of the Litani River in overt violation of Resolution 1701.
"It had demonstrated the volatile reality on the ground and that there were challenges to the implementation of resolution 1701, including an un-enforced arms embargo along the Lebanon-Syria border and the presence of Hizbullah on the ground," Shalev said.
She said Hizbullah threatened Israel, Lebanon and the wider region, while continuing to build its military infrastructure north and south of the Litani River.
"Hizbullah”s repeated breaches of the Council”s demands indicated the danger posed by Iran," she believed. "From southern Lebanon to Gaza, the arming, training and financing of terrorists bore the same certificate of origin: Tehran. Moreover, Iran continued to pursue the development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, which was a clear threat to peace and security.
"Israel called on the Council to act urgently and effectively to end the Iranian nuclear threat and stem Iran”s terrorist interference. The Council must consider more effective ways to impose its arms embargo along the Lebanon-Syria border, strengthen UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces and establish clear benchmarks to disarm and dismantle Hizbullah," Shalev added.