From the Liveblog of
Thursday, October 7, 2021
In IDF meeting, UNIFIL head says August escalation with Lebanese should stay ‘isolated event’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The head of the UNIFIL mission meets today with both senior officers in the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defense Forces at a UN position in Ras Al Naqoura, says UNIFIL in a statement.
UNIFIL Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col says the “unprecedented level of escalation” that occurred between Israel and Lebanon in August must remain “an isolated event.”
Hezbollah fired more than a dozen rockets at Israel in early August as the IDF struck sites in Lebanon.
Del Col says that the UN Security Council supports “facilitating coordination, de-escalating tensions, stabilizing the situation along the Blue Line, and building confidence.”
According to the IDF, Effie Defrin, the military’s international cooperation commander, attends the meeting to discuss UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
Defrin presents the gathering with “Lebanon’s violations” of the resolution and “emphasized Israel’s right to take any action necessary to protect Israeli civilians,” according to the military.
Resolution 1701 passed by the Security Council at the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, calls on Israel and Lebanon to refrain from attacking each other, as well as focusing on the presence of other armed forces in southern Lebanon, implying the Hezbollah terror group.
The Times of Israel Community.