Lebanon lodges airspace violation complaint with UN against Israel

Rasa - Lebanon has lodged a complaint with the United Nations after Israeli fighter jets penetrated Lebanese airspace and flew low over parts of the country over the weekend in flagrant violation of a UN Security Council resolution.

News ID: 432349

Date: 13 September 2017 - 01:27

RNA - Lebanese Ambassador to the UN Nawaf Salam, in two separate letters sent to UN Secretary General António Guterres and rotating President of the Security Council Tekeda Alemu, said the Israeli aircraft crossed into Lebanese airspace over the southern city of Sidon, located 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital, Beirut, on Sunday, causing sonic booms.

“Israeli violations constitute a blatant violation of the Lebanese sovereignty, and a new breach of international law, the UN Charter and all its relevant resolutions,” the letters pointed out.

They denounced the latest Israeli airspace violation as “a premeditated intimidation of the citizens of the region, which further destabilizes the international peace and security.”

The letters also called on the UN Security Council to condemn the violation in strongest terms, and compel Israel to stop its infringement of Lebanon's sovereignty by land, sea and air and to implement all its obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the war of aggression Israel launched against Lebanon in 2006, calls on Tel Aviv to respect Beirut's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On Saturday, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said the Arab country would complain to the Security Council against Israel over an airstrike conducted from the Lebanese airspace on a military facility in the western Syrian province of Hama.

The Syrian army said in a statement on September 7 that Israeli warplanes had fired a number of missiles at 2:42 a.m. local time (0042 GMT) from the Lebanese airspace against one of its military positions near the town of Masyaf, located approximately 40 kilometers west of the provincial capital city of Hama.

Syria’s official news agency, SANA, later reported that the air raid had killed two people at the site and caused material damage.

Israel violates Lebanon's airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.

In 2009, Lebanon filed a complaint with the United Nations, presenting over 7,000 documents pertaining to Israeli violations of Lebanese territory.

847/940