Wednesday, May 28, 2008

UNIFIL is ignoring Hezbollah violations in south Lebanon

From Haaretz, by Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent:


Israel has submitted a complaint to United Nation Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon against the commander of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) General Claudio Graziono and UNIFIL official Milosh Strugger for giving interviews to the Lebanese press in which they ignored violations of UN resolution 1701.


According to the Security Council resolution, which brought an end to the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, armed Hezbollah militants are not supposed to be present south of the Litani river. In their interviews to the Lebanese media, both Graziono and Strugger spoke of UNIFIL's success in southern Lebanon [ha ha ha!!]. Graziono said that the only violations of the resolution were by Israel, who have continued to conduct flyovers in Lebanese air space.

Strugger said that "the situation south of the Litani River is calm. Hezbollah is a social group that runs many charity organizations."


Israel is also concerned about the new instructions that were given to UNIFIL troops following recent incidents in which UNIFIL soldiers managed to take photos of armed Hezbollah militants. In some of these instances, Hezbollah managed to grab hold of the photography equipment. UNIFIL now instructs its soldiers not to take pictures of Hezbollah. According to Forign Ministry officials, Graziono is totally ignoring Israel's claims ...

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