Danon charged Hezbollah with “advancing an Iranian agenda to turn southern Lebanon into a launching pad for attacks that threaten the lives of innocent Israelis, while endangering Lebanon and its citizens.”
By: United with Israel Staff
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Danny Danon on Tuesday sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council demanding that they condemn the Hezbollah terrorist tunnels “in the strongest terms possible” and hold the Lebanese government “responsible for the dangerous destabilization of the region.”
The IDF launched Operation Northern Shield early Tuesday morning to expose and destroy terror tunnels dug by the Hezbollah terrorist organization from Lebanon into Israel.
The IDF is operating at several points inside Israeli territory along its northern border with Lebanon, with several areas declared a closed military zone.
Emulating the Hamas terror organization in Gaza, Hezbollah, in recent years has been digging tunnels into Israel so that large groups of terrorists can stream into Israel. The IDF has already exposed one such terror tunnel.
In his letter, Danon charged that Hezbollah is “advancing an Iranian agenda to turn southern Lebanon into a launching pad for attacks that threaten the lives of innocent Israelis, while endangering Lebanon and its citizens.”
In light of the violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Danon wrote that “the Lebanese government must abide by its international commitments and fully implement the abovementioned Security Council resolutions.”
UNSC Resolution 1701 was passed in 2006 at the conclusion of the Second Lebanon War, demanding a full cessation of hostilities, a withdrawal by Hezbollah to the Blue Line, behind the Litani River, and that the government of Lebanon and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) deploy their forces in the South. Israel has repeatedly charged that Hezbollah breached the resolution on many occasions.
Regional Aggression and Provocation
“The construction of these tunnels, built by Hezbollah and funded by Iran — alongside the ongoing efforts to transfer arms, convert inaccurate projectiles into precision-guided missiles and manufacture precision-guided missiles in Lebanon – are a flagrant violation of Israel’s sovereignty and mark yet another stage of Hezbollah’s ongoing efforts to expand its military build-up and further destabilize the already volatile region,” the ambassador added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israel’s delegation to the UN to call on the UN Security Council to convene an urgent meeting against Hezbollah and its actions.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton stated that the US “strongly supports Israel’s efforts to defend its sovereignty” and called on Hezbollah to stop its tunneling into Israel and “refrain from escalation and violence.”
“More broadly, we call on Iran and all of its agents to stop their regional aggression and provocation, which pose an unacceptable threat to Israeli and regional security,” he added.
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