Eurasia Press & News
Gilad Erdan’s letter indicated that not only was Hezbollah never disarmed, but that the terrorist organization “uses human shields to protect its arsenal of more than 130,000 rockets.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan submitted on Tuesday an official letter to the UN Security Council (UNSC) demanding it take immediate action against Hezbollah’s military buildup and continued activity in southern Lebanon.
Erdan’s appeal to the council follows a quarterly report recently submitted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that focuses on the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, which came into effect during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and was meant to resolve the conflict.
One of the resolution’s original conditions was “the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state.”
Guterres’ report, however, pointed at severe violations of that resolution by Hezbollah, which, according to the report, has been advancing military buildup in southern Lebanon – a claim that has been made by IDF officials on multiple occasions.
Guterres goes on to urge the Lebanese government to allow the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) full access to all requested areas in southern Lebanon, including the tunnels created by Hezbollah and discovered two years ago by the IDF.
Erdan’s letter indicated that not only was Hezbollah never disarmed, but that the terrorist organization “uses human shields to protect its arsenal of more than 130,000 rockets and military infrastructure. It systematically deprives UNIFIL of its ability to discharge its mandate by restricting the organization’s freedom of movement in an effort to hide its [Hezbollah’s] activity.”
Attached to Erdan’s letter, which was sent to all members of the Security Council, was a map prepared by the IDF that marks areas where Hezbollah terrorist tunnels were recently discovered and sites from which attacks against Israel originated, as well as observation posts of “Green without Borders,” an NGO that is believed to be a front for Hezbollah established to operate near the border and collect intelligence on IDF soldiers.
“The Security Council must immediately declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization and prevent it from receiving any direct or indirect assistance,” the letter concludes.
This is not Erdan’s first attempt to convince the UNSC that changes must be made to its policy regarding Hezbollah and the Lebanese government.
Back in August, Erdan submitted a letter of complaint to the council following an attack carried out by Hezbollah on Israeli soldiers positioned near the Lebanese border. The ambassador demanded that immediate measures be taken against the Lebanese government, and that UNIFIL’s function be reexamined, after indicating that Hezbollah’s attack was carried out in an area located between two UNIFIL outposts.
Then, during his first official address to the UNSC in October, Erdan again urged all council members to reconsider their policy regarding Hezbollah and to designate the organization as a terrorist entity in its entirely.
