Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Israel to Lebanon: stop border violations

The Associated Press, By Edith M. Lederer (20/7/2009) UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Israel urged the Lebanese government and U.N. peacekeepers on Monday to prevent Hezbollah militants and their supporters from violating its territory and jeopardizing the fragile stability along the border.

The resolution, which ended the inconclusive 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, put the zone under the control of 15,000 Lebanese troops and a 13,300-member U.N. peacekeeping force. It prohibited Hezbollah from engaging in military activities in south Lebanon and banned weapon smuggling to the group...

Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev cited three recent incidents that she said were "severe violations" of the U.N. resolution.

In the first, on July 14, a Hezbollah arms cache exploded...

Three days later, 15 Lebanese civilians crossed the U.N.-drawn Blue Line...

The July 17 incident took place near a position manned by U.N. peacekeepers, but Shalev said the force, known as UNIFIL, "refrained from taking any action to prevent the crossing of these individuals into Israeli territory."

...A third serious incident took place the following day, July 18...

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