Saturday, August 29, 2009

UN extends its uselessness in Lebanon

From Reuters, Thu Aug 27, 2009 , by Patrick Worsnip:

Israel seeks tougher U.N. action to stop weapons - U.N. says that is responsibility of Lebanon

The Security Council extended on Thursday the mandate of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon but sidestepped the issue of whether they could do more to stop Hezbollah building up an armed presence in the south.

Israel has criticized the UNIFIL force for not stopping weapons it says are flowing to Hezbollah guerrillas who might again bombard northern Israel with rockets as they did during a 2006 war. The United Nations says that is the primary responsibility of the Lebanese authorities. [So what is the UN's responsibility? ...to drink tea, and spend the world's money? - SL]

On July 14, an arms dump exploded in the south Lebanese village of Khirbet Selim. Israel said the incident showed Hezbollah was stockpiling weapons in breach of Security Council resolution 1701, passed after the war.

UNIFIL is still investigating the blast. In a letter this month to the Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there were signs the dump was Hezbollah-controlled... [...wow!! amazing....! What a revelation!]

... council diplomats said privately that Israel made clear it would like UNIFIL to more aggressively counter any rearming by Hezbollah...

...Hezbollah has said its guerrilla force is back to full strength after the 2006 war and has recently hinted it could add anti-aircraft missiles to its arsenal of short-range rockets and small arms...

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