January 30, 2014 (TSR) – Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has strongly criticized Israeli threats to target civilians in Lebanon, saying such intimidation violates international resolutions.
“The Israeli threats to bomb residential and civilian areas are a clear violation to the [United Nations] Resolution 1701 at both political and international levels,” Sleiman said.
“They are also a violation to the principles of humanity and the human rights to live in peace and safety as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates,” he added.
He also placed responsibility upon the international community and the United Nations for the Israeli intimidation of Lebanese residents.
Israeli air force chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel accused Hezbollah resistance movement Wednesday of putting “thousands” of bases in residential buildings and said it would destroy these in a future conflict, even at the cost of civilian lives.
The Israeli threat appeared to be part of an effort by Israeli authorities to prepare world opinion for high civilian casualties in any new confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Those who believe that the Army is under the influence of Hezbollah are wrong,” Sleiman told to the newspaper in New York where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly meeting and made an international appeal to help Lebanon’s cope with large numbers of Syrian refugees and preserve the country’s security from the war next door.
The president said that international support for the military is critical and boosting support for the Army can help insulate the nation from violent spillover of the Syrian conflict.
Sleiman also said he believes the solution to Hezbollah’s disarmament would be providing military aid to the Lebanese Army.
“Strengthening the Lebanese Army with anti-aircraft defenses and artillery systems is the only way that will convince Hezbollah to handover its weapons,” Sleiman said.
“This issue will find a definitive answer in the defense strategy draft I submitted to the Lebanese National Dialogue committee and was welcomed by the UN Secretary-General,” he said.
Sleiman proposed a plan to incorporate Hezbollah’s weapons into Army control under a new national defense strategy. The plan has seen very little consideration.
Sleiman, however, lamented at the failure to implement UN resolutions over the past two decades.
“Hezbollah played a leading role in the liberation of a large section of Lebanese territory occupied by Israel until 2000, while UN resolutions remained ink on paper for the past 22 years,” he said.
