BEIRUT: The UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon warned on Friday that any further security breaches from Lebanon and Israel could lead to a resumption of hostilities between the two nations. Michael Williams’ statement voicing concern over Tuesday’s exchange of rocket fire across the Blue Line came amid media reports that Lebanon’s ambassador to the UN claimed Israel was planning a “vast attack” on the country.
Following a meeting with Hizbullah international relations head Ammar Musawi, Williams condemned the latest rocket attacks.
“We remain very concerned by the incidents that have taken place in south Lebanon,” he said and added that any similar event “could easily destabilize the situation in the area and increase the threat of potential conflict.”
Williams added he would travel to New York on November 10 to brief the Security Council on Tuesday’s incident ahead of its forthcoming report on Resolution 1701.
Nawaf Salam, in a letter sent to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Security Council representatives in New York, condemned Israel’s role in the incident.
He said that Israel was “preparing for what seems to be a large attack on Lebanon,” Al-Nahar reported on Friday.
On Tuesday, a Katuysha rocket was fired into Israel from the southern village of Houla and an additional four were discovered by an LAF patrol, three of which were reportedly ready to fire immediately. The Israeli Army responded with artillery rounds.
Although no casualties or damage were reported from either side, the incident prompted international condemnation, with Ban urging “maximum restraint” between Lebanon and Israel, two countries technically still at war with one another.
Israeli representative to the UN, Gabriella Shalif, said on Thursday the Lebanese government was “fully responsible” for events in the south, including the rocket launch – the fifth incident of its kind so far this year.
“The Israeli Army bombed the suburbs of Houla with nine rockets of 155mm,” Salam was quoted as saying. He added that Lebanon’s Army and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had launched a joint probe “to determine who the perpetrators of the incident were.”
The letter also reportedly said the attack was “another violation of predetermined reactions to any incident along the Blue Line, seeing how these reactions should go through UNIFIL and should not be unilateral.”
“It is clear that this attack cannot have been for self defense. In addition, this unilateral reaction from the part of Israel is one a new and dangerous level of violating international laws,” Salam added.
The letter said spy devices recently unearthed in south Lebanon and repeated Israeli threats were “a source of great worry because not only do they represent the aggravation of an already dangerous situation but they indicate Israel is preparing for a vast attack on Lebanon.”
Retired Lebanese Army General Elias Hanna told The Daily Star that bringing the Israeli threat to the attention of the international community could be a pre-cautionary tactic.
“Historically, we know Israel can go from a state of calm to a state of war in two seconds. We have to put this into its context: is Israel ready to go to war when everyone [in the international community] is dealing with other issues? It doesn’t seem so.
“It may be a pre-emptive approach which reveals that something is not right [regarding Israel]. If Israel is not preparing something, Lebanon loses nothing by bringing it to everyone’s attention,” he said.
Salam added that the rocket fire was a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 – drafted to end the 2006 summer war with Israel – which stipulates that Lebanese sovereign borders not be breached.
Hanna said that it was impossible for each side to know the other’s intentions for certain.
“We don’t have the intelligence to say whether or not the situation is imminent,” he said. “If war is imminent, where is the high degree of alert?”
President Michel Sleiman suggested this week that Israel may have staged the rocket attack on its own territory.
Sleiman, in an interview with Al-Akhbar newspaper, labeled the incident “an excuse for Israel to continue its interference in the Lebanese sovereign state.”
He suggested Israel was continuing with its reconnaissance within Lebanon – in violation of Resolution 1701 – “because of Hizbullah’s existence.”
“It could be a possibility,” said Hanna. “Maybe Israel is getting people to do it since Lebanon discovered spying equipment, but it is still only one of many possibilities.”
Sleiman continued: “Firing a rocket from Lebanon is definitely good for Israel’s own good. I think that Israel is the one who fired it.”
“We don’t violate international decisions. I said during my last visit to south Lebanon that we won’t let any party to violate [1701],” Sleiman said. – Additional reporting by Carol Rizk and Nayla Baraki
LAF, UNIFIL WORK TO DEMARK STRETCHES OF BLUE LINE
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army has begun work in marking a stretch of the UN monitored Blue Line in south Lebanon, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) said Friday.
“The technical committee of the LAF, with the help of UNIFIL, is pursuing its work in demarking the Blue Line and it has succeeded so far in demarking the regions of Labbouneh-Alma al-Shaab, al-Dahira-Rmaysh, and Yaroun-Aitaroun,” it said.
The statement added that measurements for 23 posts were marked along the boundary, which marks the line of Israeli military withdrawal from Lebanon. Posts will be erected at these sites and work is being carried out at an additional 24 sites.
“The committee was able to reach certain sites for the first time since 1949 and it revealed abandoned land of millions of square meters,” the statement added.
Deputy UNIFIL spokeswoman, Yasmina Bouziane told The Daily Star that the demarcation work was vital to maintain security and safety in south Lebanon.
“This is part of the pilot project that UNIFIL has been conducting in coordination with the LAF in marking the Blue Line. It’s ongoing and it’s a very important process,” she said.
Bouziane added that the demarcation process was “to make sure that the safety of people in the area is taken into account” and would ensure “better monitoring of the Blue Line and will prevent accidental violations [of Resolution 1701] by farmers in the region.” – The Daily Star
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