UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is pleased the Israeli government is lifting its blockade of Lebanon Thursday.
"(The) lifting of the blockade will enable Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his government to accelerate their economic recovery and reconstruction program," the secretary-general said in a statement released Wednesday at U.N. World Headquarters in New York. "I would like to thank the governments which contributed to making this possible.
"I will continue to exert every effort to secure the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, enabling the government of Lebanon to extend its authority over its territory and to exercise its full sovereignty," he said, referring to the Aug. 11 measure calling for the cessation of hostilities that stopped a month of fighting in Lebanon.
It also called for expansion of the old U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon from about 2,000 troops to 15,000.
Stephane Dujarric, Annan's spokesman, said there were just over 3,500 new peacekeepers in Lebanon as of Wednesday, and he expected the force be up to 5,000 in 90 days. UNIFIL peacekeepers initially took over areas vacated by withdrawing Israel forces, then handed the regions over to the Lebanese army.
Israel announced earlier Wednesday it would end the air and sea blockade it imposed July 12 at 6 p.m. Thursday, local time, when international forces, sanctioned by the U.N. resolution, were expected to deploy at sea and certain ports in an attempt to block the smuggling of arms into Lebanon.
