Lack of Lebanese Political Decision to File Complaint with U.N. against Syria

Lebanon can file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council against Syria over the killing of Lebanese cameramen Ali Shaaban, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

The sources told al-Mustaqbal daily however that the problem lies in the lack of a political decision to file such a complaint.

The attack on Shaaban was in violation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, they said.

The sources criticized Lebanese authorities for instructing Lebanon’s ambassador to Syria Michel Khoury with following up the issue rather than summoning the Syrian ambassador to condemn the attack.

Al-Jadeed TV cameraman Shaaban, 32, was killed on Monday in the northern border area of Wadi Khaled when the car he was travelling in along with two of his colleagues came under gunfire from the Syrian side of the border.

Reporter Hussein Khreis and cameraman Abed Khayyat, who was lightly wounded in his arm, managed to escape.

Lebanon has previously filed several complaints against Israel for violating Lebanese sovereignty.

France condemned Shaaban’s killing on Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton was instructed to send a message to Lebanese authorities that the “intentional gunfire by the Syrian forces” is “strongly condemned.”

“The Damascus regime was not satisfied with persecuting its own people and killing them, but resorted to attacking the territories of its neighbors in full violation of their sovereignty and international law.”

Also Monday, shooting from the Syrian side of the border wounded four Syrians and two Turks on Turkish soil.