BEIRUT: The government’s lack of border control remains an issue of profound concern for the United Nations, the organization's acting head in Lebanon said Monday.

U.N. Interim Special Coordinator for Lebanon Robert Watkins, following talks with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, said that recent Syrian military incursions into Lebanon continued to jeopardize security in both countries.

“We are concerned about border management issues, particularly on the border with Syria where we have noted over the period a number of incursions of the Syrian military into Lebanese territory,” Watkins told reporters. “We are very concerned about these developments and what this implies about the lack of control that the Lebanese government has over the borders with Syria and how important it is for those borders to be demarcated so that there is clarity about those issue.”

Watkins briefed Mikati on the latest implementation report of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 which covers the last six months, indicating that the safety of the organization’s peacekeeping force in the south was a source of worry in New York. The report, which covers the implementation of 1701 between May and October, will be discussed at U.N. Headquarters at the end of the month.

“We continued to be concerned about the security of the UNIFIL forces. We appreciate the support that we are getting from the Lebanese Armed Forces and the security services. That remains an issue of concern,” Watkins said.

Twin bomb attacks targeted UNIFIL peacekeepers over the summer, wounding 11 soldiers and prompting Italy, the largest troop-contributing country, to cut by a third its contingent serving in the south.

In spite of the aggression against UNIFIL peacekeepers, Watkins said the six-month reporting period had been largely quiet, in spite of a number of outstanding issues in need of address.

“Basically there has been a fairly stable period in the south. There has been no progress made towards a permanent cease-fire, which is of concern to us,” he said.

The U.N. representative mentioned the demarcation of the Blue Line – the U.N. delineated boundary of Israeli military withdrawal from Lebanon – and the cessation of Israeli overflights as serious hindrances to a lasting cease-fire between the two warring states.