UNFIL denied access to Hezbollah attack tunnel against Israel in Lebanon
To date, UNIFIL has not been granted access to the confirmed entry points of a tunnel near Kfar Kila on the Lebanese side.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFA PEACEKEEPER of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stands at a lookout point in the village of Adaisseh near the Lebanese-Israeli border.(photo credit: REUTERS/KARAMALLAH DAHER)
The United Nations observer force was denied access to inspect the entry point of a Hezbollah tunnel that stretched into Israel, the UN’s Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process told the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday.“To date, UNIFIL has not been granted access to the confirmed entry points of a tunnel near Kfar Kila on the Lebanese side,” he said.The UN Interim Force in Lebanon is tasked with monitoring the Israeli-Lebanese border to ensure that there are no violations of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that set out the terms of the cease fire which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006.The UNSC meeting monthly meeting on the Middle East took place after Israel had wrapped up a military operation on its side of the Lebanese border to destroy six Hezbollah attack tunnels.Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the UNSC that Iran had invested millions of dollars to build the tunnels.Mladenov told the UNSC that “UNIFIL was able to confirm that two of the tunnels discovered by the Israel Defence Forces crossed the Blue Line and thereby constituted violations of Security Council resolution 1701.”Mladenov added that two tripartite meetings on January 10 and 17 dealt with the construction of the tunnels.
