Israel's attacks violate UNSC resolution: Lebanon

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There had been relative calm since the last Lebanon-Israel war but in recent weeks Lebanon-Israel tensions have escalated again following alleged recent Israeli attack in Syria:

Israel's attacks violate UNSC resolution: Lebanon

President Michel Aoun says Lebanon wiling to follow UNSC resolution but will defend itself against aggression

Zeynep Hilal Karyagdi | 01.08.2020

BEIRUT
Lebanon is prepared to defend itself against Israel’s attacks, which are in violation of the 2006 UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Saturday.

In a televised address, the president said Israel’s attacks in southern Lebanon had once again flouted UNSC Resolution 1701, which calls for full cessation of hostilities and Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Aoun asserted that Lebanon remains willing to abide by the resolution and resolving all disputes under UN supervision.
“We are committed to defend ourselves, our land, our water, and our authority. We will not compromise on this matter,” he said.
The president’s comments come after Israeli forces bombed the border town of Kafr Shuba on July 27 because of a “security incident.”
On the same day, Lebanon said it would lodge an official complaint with the UNSC.
The Israeli military claimed it had “thwarted an infiltration attempt by Hezbollah” in the Jabal Ros area.
Hezbollah, however, denied the claim, saying: “There was no clash or shooting on our part in the events that took place today on the southern border in Lebanon, but rather it was only one party which was the fearful, anxious, and tense enemy.”

It also vowed to respond to the killing of one of its members in “Israeli aggression” in Syria’s capital Damascus last week.
Israel has recently increased the number of troops along its northern borders in anticipation of retaliatory attacks by Hezbollah.

www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israels-attacks-violate-unsc-resolution-lebanon/1928987

Israel's Netanyahu warns Lebanon's Hezbollah after Syria attack

Israeli army says air raids in southern Syria were a response to an attempt to lay explosives in occupied Golan Heights.

4 Aug 2020

Since 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of attacks in Syria, targeting government troops and allied Iranian and Hezbollah forces [File: Reuters] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged a tough response to any threats against Israel after it struck Syrian military targets in retaliation for an attempted attack in the occupied Golan Heights.

"We hit a cell and now we hit the dispatchers. We will do what is necessary in order to defend ourselves," he said on Tuesday during a tour of a military facility in central Israel.

"These are not vain words; they have the weight of the State of Israel and the (military) behind them and this should be taken seriously," the veteran premier added.

Israel launched air raids on military targets in southern Syria late on Monday. The army said it was retaliating after an attempt to lay explosives in the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967.

Syrian state-run news agency Sana said Israeli helicopters attacked Syrian army positions near Quneitra in the south but caused only material damage. It also said air defences had gone into action near the Syrian capital.

Several Israeli media outlets reported that Monday's actions were in response to an increased threat from the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, which has a significant presence in Syria.

Increased tensions

Tensions have risen in recent weeks along the Israel-Syria frontier after a fighter belonging to the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah was killed in an apparent Israeli air attack on the outskirts of Damascus two weeks ago.

Israel has since boosted the number of forces on its northern frontier, where it borders Lebanon and Syria.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah promised revenge, although Israeli commentators have said he seems eager to avoid a major escalation as Lebanon struggles with its internal problems.
Last week, Israel also said it thwarted an infiltration attempt from Lebanon by Hezbollah fighters, setting off one of the heaviest exchanges of fire along the volatile Israel-Lebanon frontier since a 2006 war between the bitter enemies.

aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/israel-netanyahu-warns-hezbollah-syria-attack-200804134620711.html

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Lebanon sees possible ‘external interference’ in port blast that killed 154 people, injured 5,000

Michael Georgy and Ellen Francis
BEIRUT
Reuters

Published 2 days ago Updated 1 day ago
Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, centre, wears a protective face mask as he visits the site of a massive explosion in the heart of Beirut on Aug. 5, 2020.
-/AFP/Getty Images

Lebanon’s president said on Friday its investigation into the biggest blast in Beirut’s history would examine whether it was caused by a bomb or other external interference, as residents sought to rebuild shattered homes and lives.
Rescuers sifted rubble in a race to find anyone still alive after Tuesday’s port explosion that killed 154 people, injured 5,000, destroyed a swathe of the Mediterranean city and sent seismic shock waves around the region.
“The cause has not been determined yet. There is a possibility of external interference through a rocket or bomb or other act,” President Michel Aoun told local media.

While the United States has said it did not rule out an attack, Israel, which has fought several wars with Lebanon, has denied any role. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the cause was unclear, but compared the blast to a 2005 bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Lebanon's president said on Friday its investigation into the biggest blast in Beirut's history would examine whether it was caused by a bomb or other external interference. Reuters

theglobeandmail.com/world/article-lebanese-president-says-blast-probe-looking-into-external-interference/