Hours before Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah mocked Israel’s military and politically echelon and claimed Israel was responsible for Georgia’s defeat against Russia as it had sent failed Israeli generals to train Georgian forces, the commander of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon accused Israel of violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and praised the cooperation he enjoyed with Hizbullah.
Maj. Gen. Caludio Graziano cited the IAF forays over Lebanon and the village Ghajar, as constant violations carried out by Israel, and added that Israel has failed to provide maps of all the locations where it dropped cluster bombs in the Second Lebanon War.
In contrast Graziano stressed that he enjoyed excellent cooperation with Hizbullah and the local people, and declared that his forces had not spotted any armed people south of the Litani River. Graziano said that his forces had not acted to prevent weapons being smuggled from Syria across the border as the Lebanese government had never issued such a request.
The UN general’s remarks should raise alarm bells, especially as they were made by someone who is supposed to be representing a so called neutral body that monitors world order.
His remarks almost cause one to ask how much he received in a Hizbullah pay-off in order to take such a one sided stand.
The UNIFIL commander’s comments should be viewed in a more worrisome light, especially in lieu of recent statements made by outgoing UN Ambassador Danny Gillerman who declared that the UNIFIL troops were not carrying out their mandate and appeared to be laying the groundwork for another conflict between Israel and Hizbullah.
“The UNIFIL should be more proactive – more aggressive in going after Hizbullah in detecting and identifying arms depots. They should be going in there not just relying on Lebanese armed forces to do so, who often work in collusion with Hizbullah,” Gillerman said.
Israel continues to maintain that UNIFIL countries choose to ignore the evidence of Hizbullah smuggling because it does not want to confront them.
At a recent meeting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak both told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that action must be taken against Hizbullah’s violations of the resolution, adding that Israel cannot accept the flood of weapons being smuggled to Hizbullah.
While Resolution 1701 demanded "the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon," Hizbullah has never been better armed. While it called on Lebanon to support the cease-fire, Beirut now explicitly threatens Israel.
And while it demanded that "no sales or supply of arms and related material" reach Lebanon - Syria, Iran (and, less brazenly, Russia) are systematically flouting 1701.
08/15/08
Infolive.tv
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