UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday expressed concern in a report to the Security Council over Hizbullah and Israel's mutual violations of UN Resolution 1701, mentioning in particular the firing of rockets, the discovery of an arms cache in southern Lebanon and the mysterious explosions which rocked the country in recent weeks.
Lebanese majority leader lawmaker Sa'ad Hariri, right, sits next to the Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, left, during a session for the election of the house speaker at the Lebanese Parliament building, in Beirut.
Photo: AP Photo/Lebanese Parliament Media Office, HO
The report urged both sides to heed the 2006 resolution, which had declared a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah at the end of the Second Lebanon War, also calling for the implementation of UN Resolution 1559 in conjunction with a long-term solution to reinstate Lebanon's sovereignty.
In his report, the UN secretary-general called for Lebanon's militias to disband or disarm and cease all arms smuggling activity, adding that Israel must put a stop to its overflights, withdraw from disputed border village Ghajar and reexamine the Shaba Farms quandary together with Syria.
The report also stated that the explosions of alleged Israeli espionage devices in Houla were being investigated by UNIFIL.
Ban said UNIFIL and the Lebanese army discovered a battery pack buried in the ground at the same location, which was apparently a third part of the sensor system, and are now trying to establish how and when the device was installed and how it was detonated.
"Preliminary indications are that the explosions were caused by explosive charges contained in an unattended, underground IDF sensor system," said the secretary-general while stressing that the presence of paramilitary explosives and intelligence devices in Lebanon would not be tolerated.
AP contributed to this report
