By JPOST.COM STAFF
A senior UNIFIL official was quoted Sunday as saying that alleged spying devices found in Lebanon indicated Israel may have violated Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War.
Reuters quoted UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams as saying, "These do look like some sort of espionage device."
His comments came in response to Hizbullah reports that it had uncovered three Israeli "spying devices" in Lebanon. The guerrilla group further claimed that the devices had caused a blast in southern Lebanon last week.
IDF sources, however, responded to the Hizbullah reports by saying that the incident was staged by the Lebanese terror group in an attempt to divert attention from the explosion of a weapons cache in Tayr last week, Channel 10 reported on Sunday evening.
According to Israel Radio, UNIFIL filed a complaint with the IDF over what it called "violations by the Israel Air Force in the southern Lebanese skies."
UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane was quoted as claiming that during the investigation in Wadi Houla, IAF unmanned aerial vehicles were making sorties above the area and violating Lebanon's sovereignty.
Earlier Sunday, Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV station had said a blast that rocked the Wadi Houla area in southern Lebanon on Saturday was apparently caused by the detonation of three "spying devices" that Israel had planted in the area.
Al-Manar claimed that after the devices were discovered, at least one was remotely destroyed by the IDF.
Lebanese army and UNIFIL troops arrived at the scene amid public panic and began working to destroy one of the devices, the TV station reported.
The Voice of Lebanon radio station reported that the explosion following a breach in Hizbullah's secure telecommunications network, which reportedly led to the discovery of two 50-meter cables near an Israeli outpost across the border.
According to the Voice of Lebanon, one of the cables had been used for wiretapping, while the other had been used for broadcasting. News agency DPA in Beirut quoted a Lebanese source who suggested that the devices the Lebanese army had detonated were "batteries" belonging to the "espionage device" that had exploded earlier.
IDF troops were said to have conducted patrols close to the border later in the day.
Hizbullah has for years been claiming to find various forms of "listening" or "spying" devices on Lebanese soil.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora called the "Israeli spying devices" a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Israel Radio reported on Sunday night.
The IDF Spokesman Office said it was "looking into" Sunday's claims.
Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.