Plumbly Meets Hizbullah Official, Urges All Sides to Respect Baabda Declaration

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly welcomed on Monday the appointment of Tammam Salam as prime minister-designate, while condemning the recent violations along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

He said: “The Security Council has now on several occasions, reiterated the importance of respect for Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and the need for all concerned to respect Lebanon’s policy of dissociation and the Baabda Declaration,” he stressed.

He made his remarks after holding talks with Hizbullah's International Relations official Sayyed Ammar Moussawi.

“I would like to take this opportunity to stress our deep concern at the incidents over the weekend in which Lebanese citizens were killed as a result of fire from Syria,” he added.

Moreover, Plumbly lauded the consensus over the appointment of Tammam Salam as prime minister-designate, hoping he will succeed in forming a new government.

He said: “ I encouraged all concerned to work together to form a new government as soon as possible.”

In addition, the U.N. official expressed the hope that Lebanon’s political parties will reach agreement on an electoral law soon in order to ensure the conduct of elections in accordance with Lebanon’s constitutional requirements.

Discussions also addressed the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and “we both welcomed the calm that continues to prevail in southern Lebanon,” added Plumbly.

The Baabda Declaration was adopted during a national dialogue session in June.

It calls for Lebanon to disassociate itself from regional crises, most notably the one in Syria.

Two people were killed over the weekend when rockets fired from Syria landed in al-Qasr region and village of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali.

On Monday, two rockets fired from Syria landed in the outskirts of Sahlat al-Ma' in the town of al-Qasr that lies in northeast of the Hermel district.

No injuries were reported.

The deaths are not the first time that Lebanese citizens have been killed by cross-border fire coming from Syria. In February, at least one Lebanese man was killed by gunfire from the Syrian side of the border.