U.N. Chief on 1701: Hizbullah, Israel Violated Security Council Resolution
United Nations General Secretary chief Ban Ki-moon condemned in his latest report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 Hizbullah's attack against an Israeli military vehicle in the occupied Shebaa Farms.
Ban considered it a “serious breach for the cease fire,” warning that it could lead to a new war that the sides of the conflict cannot endure, An Nahar newspaper reported on Saturday.
The U.N. chief also denounced in his report the killing of a Spanish U.N. peacekeeper during Israels retaliation to Hizbullah's attack.
The January incident left a U.N. soldier and two Israeli troops dead.
The 36-year-old corporal, Francisco Javier Soria Toledo, was part of the 10,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, which includes 600 Spanish soldiers.
Ban also stressed in his report “that Hizbullah hostile activity in the area of operations of UNIFIL directly violates the resolution” 1701, slamming Israel's retaliation.
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag, who recently succeeded Derek Plumbly in the position, is expected to brief the members of the Security Council on the implementation of resolution 1701.
The U.N. Special Coordinator post was established in 2000 due to a request by the Secretary-General in a report to the Security Council that revealed the intention to appoint U.N. diplomat to be based in Beirut to help coordinate U.N. activities with regard to southern Lebanon.
Resolution 1701, which ended the Hizbullah-Israel war in 2006, expanded the mandate of U.N. troops in the South, which was originally formed in 1978 after the outbreak of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
It imposed a strict embargo on weapons destined for Lebanese or foreign militias in Lebanon, and pressed Israel to end violations of Lebanon's airspace and to withdraw from northern Ghajar.
H.K.
D.A.
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