BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 7 (UPI) -- The commander of UNIFIL in south Lebanon said Lebanon asked for a cease-fire with Israel on May 21 to stop fierce clashes with Hezbollah.
Gen. Alan Pelligrini was quoted in Beirut's daily Al-Mustaqbal Wednesday as saying Israel destroyed most of Hezbollah's border positions in raids and cross-border fighting that went on for hours on that day.
The clashes, which were described as the most serious since Israel pulled out from south Lebanon in May 2000, were sparked by rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon. The rocket attack on May 21 came 48 hours after an Islamic Jihad official and his brother were killed in an explosion in the south Lebanese city of Sidon, which the Palestinians and Hezbollah blamed on Israeli agents.
Pelligrini said "the identity of those who fired the rockets at north Israel is unknown, although Palestinian fingerprints are very obvious."
"The attack, also, would not have happened without flexibility by Hezbollah if not its consent," Pelligrini added.
He said the Lebanese side contacted the commander of the U.N. peacekeepers known as UNIFIL, to arrange a cease-fire with Israel.
"We have arranged a cease-fire without conditions although the Israelis said they will stop fire when Hezbollah stops it," he said.
Pelligrini said three UNIFIL positions were hit by the Israeli bombardment, due to their proximity to certain Hezbollah positions.
"There are Hezbollah positions and observation posts just a few meters from our positions and this exposed the security of our troops to danger," Pelligrini said.
Pelligrini also noted that most of Hezbollah's positions and observation points along the Blue Line demarcating the Lebanese-Israeli border were destroyed during the confrontation.
He asked Hezbollah and the Lebanese state not to rebuild the posts near UNIFIL positions "in order to protect themselves, because this is unacceptable and the security of our troops is a priority."
