UNIFIL Destroying Hizbullah Weapons

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported to U.N.headquarters in New York that troops have discovered and destroyed numerous Katyusha rockets,launchers and explosives in their search of Hizbullah bunkers throughout southern Lebanon.IDF sources said, however,that the terrorists are using the same tactics as in the Second Lebanon War and are camouflaging the rockets and launchers in villages.UNIFIL soldiers have sent reports to the world body saying they have searched some 90 percent of the terrorist bunkers,many of which included underground tunnels as well.The report said weapons and other materiel found in the extensive underground complexes were destroyed in controlled explosions.UNIFIL's searches for illegal arms have been limited to open brush areas in southern Lebanon since the ceasefire went into effect in August 2006.Terrorists have moved the weapons into Shi’ite villages,IDF sources said,in order to hide the materiel from UNIFIL.In addition, the IDF has said that Hizbullah is keeping long-range missiles north of the Litani River, out of range of UNIFIL patrols.Terrorists have periodically attacked UNIFIL soldiers,most recently setting off a small bomb near a military vehicle over the weekend,causing damage but no injuries.The attack occurred north of Tyre and near a Lebanese army checkpoint.While UNIFIL reports on its fight to fulfill its mandate to prevent Hizbullah from gearing up its forces to ignite another war,the international community is pressuring Israel to withdraw from territory along the northern border.In recent weeks,a UN cartographer decided that the Sheba’a Farms region of Mount Dov belongs to Lebanon.As a result,the world body has asked Israel to withdraw from the disputed area and turn it over to UNIFIL.Jerusalem maintains that the area was held by Syria until it was captured by Israel in 1967.Syria maintains that the territory is Lebanese.France and the U.S.are pressuring Israel to withdraw,claiming that the move will strengthen Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora’s fragile government.The dispute over the region is rooted in the division of the Middle East into British and French mandates after World War I.When the U.N. marked the border in 2000 after Israel ’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon,the farms were not on the Lebanese side of the border.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s decision to order the hasty IDF retreat from southern Lebanon in 2000 was based on similar international pressure.IDF officials have said that the vacuum created by Israel ’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon enabled the Hizbullah terrorist organization to build up an arsenal, strengthen its forces and build its complex infrastructure in the area.Ehud Barak is now Israel ’s Defense Minister,having replaced former Defense Minister Amir Peretz,who was criticized in a number of probes into the management of last summer’s war.
by Hana Levi Julian
http://www.israelnationalnews.com
As in the days of Noah...