What did Hochstein say about UNIFIL resolution, Hezbollah tent?

In his meetings with Lebanese officials on Wednesday, U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein stressed the importance of renewing the mandate of the UNIFIL forces, noting that he does not understand why Lebanon has requested the omission of a paragraph granting the U.N. force freedom of movement in the South, a media report said.

“When told that it contradicts with the initial resolution and violates Lebanese sovereignty, he answered: ‘It was not us who formulated this paragraph last year, but rather your ambassador to the U.N., Amal Moudallali, who was present during formulation. Your request to name northern Ghajar as the outskirts of the town of al-Mari is not reasonable, because Israel has stressed that there is a major geographic distance between the two areas,’” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

Hochstein also said that UNIFIL should remove the tent that Hezbollah has erected in the occupied Shebaa Farms, pointing out that such a move would help achieve a lot of things, including addressing the disputed land border points, the daily added.

Asked by a diplomat taking part in the meetings about the threat emanating from the tent, Hochstein reportedly said: “Militarily it has no value, but it has turned into an issue of morale. The Israeli army has become humiliated in front of its people due to its inability to remove the tent by force.”