BEIRUT: Lebanon’s government has information about who is behind recent security incidents in the south, Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said, denying rumors that UNIFIL might abort its mission in the country.

“We know who has been firing the rockets, who makes the explosives and who is jeopardizing security in the south and southerners and to which party they belong to whose aim is to destabilize Lebanon,” Ghosn told As-Safir newspaper in an article published Monday.

“We have reliable leads in our investigation but we will not disclose them to the public except when [the information is confirmed],” he added.

Two rocket attacks have been launched from south Lebanon in recent weeks, one hitting Israel and the other, apparently falling short of its target, hitting the house of a 55-year-old woman in south Lebanon. No party has claimed responsibility for any of them. Some Lebanese lawmakers have placed the blame on Hezbollah given the party’s strong security presence in the area.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in the south, UNIFIL, has also been the target of three roadside bombs this year, which have left several French and Italian peacekeepers wounded. The most recent attack was two weeks ago, when a bomb hit a UNIFIL vehicle carrying French peacekeepers, wounding five.

Ghosn told the newspaper that Lebanon’s government would try its best to provide UNIFIL with the most comfortable environment for it to carry out its duties.

The minister, who was appointed in June this year, also said that volunteer countries within UNIFIL have certain arrangements unrelated to individual security incidents which would result in an increase or downsize in the number of troops.

Following the first attack on French soldiers in July this year, Paris threatened Lebanon it would downsize its contingent, one of the largest, if any further attack occurred. Italy took the decision to decrease the number of troops following an attack on its contingent in May.

“These arrangements are not related to a political reality or security developments and what concerns us is to respect international resolution primarily [U.N.] Security Council Resolution 1701,” Ghosn said.

Paris and other contributing countries will reportedly make a decision regarding the number of soldiers it keeps in the force after the Security Council finalizes a strategic review of the operation this year.

Ghosn also defended coordination between the government and Hezbollah in the south, describing it as good and saying that resistance party’s “performance does not detract from the presence of the state.”

"The resistance has one fundamental goal and that is to resist Israel and it will remain within this framework and will not go beyond that to become part of some other formula,” he said, referring to reports that Hezbollah may engage in a regional war if its allies, primarily Syria, are attacked.