Arabi Urges Security Council to 'Immediately' Intervene to End Border Escalation

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi urged on Wednesday the United Nations Security Council to intervene to halt the “deterioration of the situation on the Israeli border with Syria and Lebanon” in the wake of the Shebaa Farms operation earlier in the day.

He said: “The Security Council should assume its responsibilities and intervene immediately to put an end to the Israeli assaults.”

He later contacted Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to discuss the developments in the South.

Earlier, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, expressed deep concern “over the serious deterioration of the security situation in South Lebanon following the attack on the Israeli Defense Forces in the area of the Shebaa Farms.”

Kaag urgently called on all parties to refrain from any actions that could destabilize the situation further.

All parties are strongly urged to continue to abide by their obligations under U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, she demanded.

An Israeli military vehicle was attacked in the Shebaa Farms earlier on Wednesday, reportedly wounding six soldiers.

Hizbullah claimed responsibility for the operation, saying it was in response to a January 18 Israeli airstrike on the Quneitra region in Syria's Golan Heights that reportedly left six party members and an Iranian general dead.

A Spanish member of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon was killed in the unrest.

M.T.

Y.R.