Hezbollah drone not a UN violation, says Lebanese foreign minister

Lebanon did not violate a UN cease-fire resolution last week by sending an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over Israeli airspace, Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said.

In an interview with the Lebanese news outlet A-Nahar published Sunday, Mansour said that his country would take responsibility for the dispatch of the drone, which was shot down by Israel in the northern Negev on October 6.

On Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the drone was assembled by his terrorist organization using parts supplied by Iran.

“Lebanon will definitely assume responsibility for Hezbollah’s recent action because the country [is] in a confrontation with Israel,” Mansour told the paper.

Mansour claimed that, since the UN adopted Resolution 1701 to end the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israel has violated it “tens of thousands of times.

“Israel has no excuse to retaliate to Hezbollah’s action because it is constantly practicing aggression against Lebanon,” Mansour said. He added that the UN has never held Israel accountable for its actions.

The UN resolution states, among other things, that no armed forces may occupy southern Lebanon other than UNIFIL peacekeeping soldiers.

On Saturday, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told the Lebanese National News Agency that UN peacekeepers did not see any aerial activity from Lebanon to Israel on the day the drone was dispatched.

In supporting the drone being sent, Mansour said that it was as though Hezbollah was saying that “since Israel is capable of violating the resolution, then so can we.”