ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

Israeli Ambassador to the US and the UN Gilad Erdan sent a strongly worded emergency letter to the UN Security Council on Friday, demanding an unequivocal condemnation of the rocket attacks on northern Israel this past week.

On Friday morning, a heavy barrage of close to 20 rockets, later claimed to have been shot by Hezbollah, were fired from Lebanon into Northern Israel.

"Israel holds the government of Lebanon responsible for any action originating from within its territory, regardless of the affiliation of the individuals or the terrorist group that carried out the attacks," Erdan wrote in the letter.

"These repeated attempts to harm Israeli civilians and breaches of Israel’s sovereignty are further indications of the Lebanese government's failure to exert control over all parts of its territory," he added.

Erdan noted that this week's attacks are a continuation of Lebanese terror attacks on Israel over the past three months.

He also stated that they have the potential to destabilize the Middle East and are in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which was approved during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and called for cessation of hostilities as well as hinting at a disarmament of Hezbollah.

"The aforementioned incidents constitute undeniable proof of the presence of terrorist organizations and of their infrastructure in UNIFIL's area of operations and beyond, and illustrate once again the need for UNIFIL to effectively and fully implement its mandate," the ambassador wrote.

Erdan signed off the letter by stating that the recent terrorist attacks, which were carried out on the first anniversary of the Beirut blast, made it clear that "Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations are trying to distract the world from their active role in bringing Lebanon to its current state of crisis."