Lebanon to pursue Israel violations at UN: Report

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has requested the country’s UN mission to lodge three complaints with the world body against the Israeli regime over its violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Bassil’s office said in a statement that Lebanon’s permanent mission to the UN had been tasked with filing three complaints with the UN Security Council “with regards to Israel’s blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and UN Council Resolution 1701,” the Daily Star reported on Saturday.
The minister also asked Lebanon’s Ambassador to the UN Nawaf Salam to follow up on the complaints and inform the Foreign Ministry of the developments.
On May 11, Israeli forces crossed the Blue Line in the al-Labbouneh border area and uprooted trees to have a Lebanese army checkpoint exposed.
On the same day, the Lebanese army said several Israeli gunboats had violated Lebanon’s territorial waters near the southern city of Ras Naqoura.
According to Bassil, the Israeli military also attempted to kidnap three Lebanese citizens in the Shebaa farms in southern Lebanon on May 9.
In an interview with Lebanon’s As-Safir daily on May 12, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned Israel’s violations of the Arab country’s sovereignty, calling on the government to file a complaint with the UN Security Council against Tel Aviv.
The recent Israeli violations come as the regime continues to breach Lebanon’s airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the war of aggression Israel launched on Lebanon in 2006, calls on Tel Aviv to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In 2009, Lebanon filed a complaint with the United Nations, presenting over 7,000 documents pertaining to Israeli violations of the Lebanese territory.