by Tovah Lazaroff
The US warned that UNIFIL peacekeepers are being increasingly blocked from fulfilling their mission.
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A UN PEACEKEEPERS (UNIFIL) vehicle drives past a poster depicting
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, near the Lebanese-Israeli border.
(photo credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)
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Hezbollah must stop stockpiling weapons on Israel's northern border, deputy US Ambassador Richard Mills told the United Nations Security Council in New York on Wednesday after it voted to renew the mandate of the organization's peacekeepers in that area of southern Lebanon.
"The US shares this council’s significant concern about the state of affairs in southern Lebanon, in particular, Hezbollah's threatening activities," he said.
Tensions continue surrounding Lebanon-Israel maritime border demarcation talks
The UNSC vote comes as tensions have increased between Israel and neighboring Lebanon over their maritime dispute.
On Wednesday, a Reuters deputy editor posted a video of two Lebanese ministers symbolically throwing rocks in Israel's direction.
The UN since 1978 has maintained a peacekeeper force along the border between the two countries known as the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Since 2006, it has been specifically tasked with maintaining the ceasefire agreement that ended the Second Lebanon War and was codified in UNSC Resolution 1701.
LEBANESE
SOLDIERS and UN peacekeepers (blue berets and turbans) serving with
UNIFIL inspect areas targeted by IDF shelling in the Shebaa area,
southern Lebanon, on October 8, 2014. (credit: REUTERS/KARAMALLAH DAHER)UNIFIL at present has a force of 10,500 peacekeepers from 48 UN countries. The patrol focuses on the area between the Blue Line and the Litani River, with an eye to preventing another arms build-up that would lead to another war, particularly by a non-state actor such as Hezbollah.
Israel holds that Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy group.
UN reiterates Lebanese Army should be only armed force in country
The UNIFIL resolution approved Wednesday reiterated the UN position that the Lebanese Army should be the only armed force in the country. It also called for UNIFIL to be given the freedom of movement to complete its mandate.
Mills said the resolution "reaffirms UNIFIL’s authority to operate independently and to conduct both announced and unannounced patrols."
"We urge the Lebanese authorities as the host state to facilitate UNIFIL’s full and timely access to UNIFIL’s entire area of operations," Mills said.
He echoed a concern raised many times by Israel about the Lebanese failure to ensure that UNIFIL has freedom of movement in its area of operation.
"UNIFIL peacekeepers are blocked with increasing frequency from conducting their mandated tasks and accessing sites of concern," Mills said.
The area of between the Blue Line and the Litani River "must be free of weapons except for those used by the government of Lebanon and UNIFIL," Mills said.
"With this resolution [renewing UNIFIL's mandate] the security council has made clear that Hezbollah’s continued amassing off weapons must stop," Mills said.
He took particular issue with the actions of of a non-governmental environment group called Green Without Borders which is believed to be an affiliate of Hezbollah and which operates in Southern Lebanon.
US accuses Hezbollah of obstructing UNIFIL
Mills accused the group of obstructing UNIFIL's actions by placing containers near Israel's border.
"The proliferation of prefabricated containers placed by Green Without Borders obstructs UNFIL’s access to the Blue line and is heightening tension in the area, further demonstrating that this so-called environmental group is acting on Hezbollah’s behalf," Mills said.
UNIFIL must also have access to the tunnels, he said, referencing the sites where Israel has documented that Hezbollah dug attack tunnels along its northern border.
Tovah Lazaroff
Source: https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/article-716005
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