Berri condemns 'flagrant' truce violations as Israel strikes east and south
Since a fragile ceasefire went into effect last week, Israel has violated the agreement dozens of times. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri counts more than 52.
The number of violations has risen since Speaker Berri's interview with al-Joumhouria newspaper was published Monday, on the sixth day of the truce. An Israeli drone strike wounded Monday a Lebanese army soldier in the eastern region of Hermel, while another drone targeted a motorcycle in Marjaayoun, killing a State Security agent on duty.
The Israeli army also fired flare bombs in south Lebanon and struck the border town of Khiam, where Israeli troops are still present and displaced residents are not allowed to return. Later in the day, a person was wounded in a strike on the southern town of Ainata.
Israel continues to call on displaced Lebanese not to return to dozens of southern villages during the initial two-month halt to fighting. It also continues to impose a daily curfew for people moving across the Litani River between 5 pm and 7 am. Many families who want to bury their dead deep in southern Lebanon are unable to do so at this point.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated many times that the current stage of the ceasefire is not permanent and might be brief, threatening to renew war.
"These violations are a flagrant infringement" of the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Berri told al-Joumhouria, adding that Lebanon has complained to the relevant international authorities. He said he hopes that these violations will stop once the U.S.-led monitoring committee is formed.
The committee includes France, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL, Lebanon, and Israel.
The United States military announced Friday that Major General Jasper Jeffers alongside senior U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein will co-chair the committee. Hochstein led over a year of shuttle diplomacy to broker the ceasefire deal, and his role will be temporary until a permanent civilian co-chair is appointed.
France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot told his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in a phone call Monday that all sides should respect the ceasefire in Lebanon, the French foreign ministry said.
Also on Monday, an Israeli infantry force, in tanks, bulldozers and other vehicles, advanced from the western neighborhood of Mays al-Jabal towards the Doubieh Fort, located on an intersection hill between the border towns of Chaqra, Houla and Mays-al-Jabal.
Israeli bulldozers meanwhile demolished homes in Kfarkila. Last week, Israeli troops uprooted olive trees in the southern border town.
Israeli troops had advanced, after the ceasefire took effect, in southern border villages to zones where they were not present prior to the truce, including in Markaba, Khiam and Maroun al-Ras, where they detonated buildings and demolished houses.
The first phase of the ceasefire is a 60-day cessation of hostilities where Hezbollah fighters are supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon north of the Litani River and Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. Lebanese troops are to deploy in large numbers in the south, effectively being the only armed force in control of the south alongside UNIFIL peacekeepers.
Hezbollah emerges from the war massively weakened but not crushed, and still mourning the killing in an Israeli air raid of its longtime leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
"I missed the presence of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah by my side," Berri, who helped mediate the ceasefire on behalf of ally Hezbollah, said.
Hundreds of people, many in tears, gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs late Saturday at the site where Nasrallah was killed two months ago.
Later in the day, Berri in a statement reiterated his condemnation of "the aggressive actions carried out by Israeli occupation forces", urging the monitoring committee to "immediately compel Israel to stop its violations" and withdraw from Lebanese territory it is still occupying.
"Where does the committee stand on these ongoing violations, which have exceeded 54," Berri asked, adding that Lebanon and Hezbollah have fully respected the ceasefire's terms.
On Sunday, Israeli jets launched an airstrike over a southern Lebanese border village, while troops shelled other border towns and villages still under Israeli control.
Israel says the strikes were done to thwart possible Hezbollah attacks.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the Lebanese military have been critical of Israeli strikes and overflights, including over Beirut, since the ceasefire went into effect, accusing Israel of violating the agreement. The military said it had filed complaints. No military action has been taken by Hezbollah in response, meaning that the tense cessation of hostilities has not yet broken down.
Source: Naharnet, Associated Press
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/309530 |