UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Senior U.N. officials are increasingly concerned about Israeli flights over Lebanon, so much so that one has called the latest a breach of Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended 33 days of fighting in August.
Israel Tuesday allegedly staged a scary mock air raid on Hezbollah positions around Beirut, purportedly searching for arms smuggling, as U.N. concern was voiced over such smuggling from across the border with Syria.
This came one day after the council heard from Terje Roed-Larsen, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for the implementation of Resolution 1559, which called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon.
Following his presentation, the council issued a formal statement commending Beirut for extending its armed forces into southern Lebanon, where Syria and Iran-backed Hezbollah militia long held sway.
However, the panel of 15 expressed regret "some provisions of Resolution 1559 have yet to be implemented, namely the disbanding and disarming of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, the strict respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence of Lebanon."
That was a reference to Hezbollah and Israel, specifically the Israeli flights over Lebanese territory, ostensibly to make sure Hezbollah was not rearming.
Resolution 1559, passed in 2004, was aimed at getting Israeli, Syrian and Hezbollah forces out of Lebanon so the Lebanese army could exercise control throughout the nation.
It is the resolution providing Roed-Larsen's mandate and he's the one who brought up the smuggling.
"Representatives of the government of Lebanon have stated publicly ... there has been arms coming across the border into Lebanon," he told reporters Monday after briefing the council. "We have ... not received any formal information of quantities, types of weapon etc.
"The consistent position of the government of Syria has been that, yes there might be arms coming over the border but this is arms smuggling and that the border is porous and very difficult to control," Roed-Larsen said.
He pointed out that Annan had discussed such problems with Syrian authorities when he visited Damascus this summer and had "offered the possibility of assisting Syria in order to tighten the border so that weapons cannot move across."
The special envoy then announced Lebanon was "for the first time ever deploying a significant number of troops along this eastern border, it's 8,600 troops."
Roed-Larsen said, "If it is sufficient, only time can show."
As for the overall situation, he said: "We continue to be concerned that Syria and Iran are actively trying to destabilize the democratically-elected government of Lebanon, in contravention of Resolution 1559's call for strict respect for Lebanon's sovereignty and political independence. We call on Syria and Iran to abide by their obligations to respect Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity, and political independence."
The envoy said, "Generally speaking the situation in Lebanon is worrisome. The political rhetoric shows that there are very high tensions and I think we have to look at the situation in Lebanon with all caution and ... being worried about where this is heading."
He said the situation was "exacerbated by the difficult situation in the other countries, arenas, of the region, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, situation in Iraq, issues related to Iran's relationship to the Arab world. All this is pulling now together in one pattern which makes the situation probably more complex, more fragile and more dangerous than it's been over a very long period of time."
As for the disputed Shebaa Farms region, the United Nations said it was Syrian territory captured by the Israelis in 1967. But Syria and Lebanon say it is Lebanese.
"I cannot give you a timeline," Roed-Larsen said when asked about the region. "I am just saying U.N. cartographers and legal people are working full speed on the issue. It's a technical question. We are analyzing a host of material which we have received from the Lebanese authorities. Its hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages of material which has to be translated from Arabic, analyzed, etc. This takes time but there is no delay."
Meanwhile, a U.N. spokeswoman, quoting Annan's Personal Representative for Lebanon Geir Pedersen, said the council "renews its call on Israel to cease its violations of Lebanese sovereignty and calls on all parties to respect and implement resolution 1701.
"Pedersen is particularly disturbed by the intensive mock air raids that took place over Beirut this (Tuesday) morning," Marie Okabe said. "The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon has reported some eight air violations over the past two days, which they have observed over their area of operation."
Resolution 1701, which brought to an end the summer's war, mandated strengthening UNIFIL to a maximum of 15,000 troops, although the force commander, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, has said 10,000 troops might be sufficient.
At present the force has 7,200 troops on the ground. Its naval unit became operational earlier this month, monitoring Lebanon's territorial waters and the coastline to prevent arms smuggling.
