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Mike
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10.01.2005 23:40:42
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Локальные конфликты;
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Эк вас Мignews затравмировало...всюду чудится
UN says Hezbollah bears main blame for French peacekeeper’s death
(AFP)
10 January 2005
BEIRUT - The United Nations said Monday that Shiite militant group Hezbollah bore the main responsibility for the death of a French peacekeeper in a flare-up of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said the violence had been sparked by a Hezbollah attack that killed one Israeli soldier and wounded three, violating the so-called Blue Line drawn up to mark the border following Israel’s 2000 pullout from south Lebanon.
“We are expressing ... serious concern over what happened yesterday with the attack of Hezbollah across the Blue Line,” the envoy said after talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud.
“We can’t forget anyway that the event started with the attack across the Blue Line.”
De Mistura rejected Hezbollah’s argument that attacks on the disputed Shebaa Farms district were justified because it remained under Israeli occupation.
“We consider the Blue Line (extends) all the way up to Shebaa, including Shebaa,” he said.
The formerly Syrian-controlled district was occupied by Israel in 1967 along with the rest of the strategic Golan Heights but is now claimed by Lebanon with Syrian blessing.
De Mistura expressed “deep, deep sadness” over the death of the French peacekeeper and the wounding of a Swedish comrade in retaliatory Israeli fire.
“We have been asking all sides first to remember that they are responsible for the safety of our own colleagues who are working for peace,” he said.
The UN envoy noted that the mandate of the 27-year-old United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon was up for renewal by the Security Council later this month.
“We are in a very delicate period not only in the history of Lebanon but of the region,” he said.
“This is the time to maintain calm ... We’re asking all sides to contain their actions.”
Hezbollah retorted that its attack was a response to a separate UN Security Council resolution passed last September calling for an end to foreign interference in Lebanon and the deployment of government troops right up to the Blue Line.
“Our response can be viewed as an answer to the international pressures exerted on both Lebanon and Syria to disarm the resistance and to assure everyone that our struggle will continue,” Hezbollah official Mahmud Qmati told Lebanon’s Daily Star.
Hezbollah, which is backed by both Syria and its key regional ally Iran, has effectively controlled Lebanon’s deep south since Israel’s pullout.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/January/middleeast_January262.xml§ion=middleeast