Israel Matzav

'Locals' 'force' UNIFIL to delete photos of underground cables

In southern Lebanon, the UNIFIL farce continues. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon filed a report this week in which he indicated that UNIFIL forces troops in southern Lebanon discovered underground cables while on patrol. The troops were surrounded by stone-throwing 'locals,' and extricated themselves from their situation by agreeing to delete the photos. And the cables were...?

The incident constitutes the second time in recent months that the work of the peacekeeping force has been restricted because of pressures from local residents - this in strict violation of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War that brought the UNIFIL forces to south Lebanon.

According to the UN secretary general's report, on May 28, UNIFIL peacekeepers located cables that were buried in southeast Lebanon.

They proceeded to take photographs of the cables, and were subsequently surrounded by local residents who hurled stones at them and in turn took pictures of the soldiers themselves.

The incident was brought to an end only after UNIFIL agreed to delete the photos, despite the fact that UN policy permits the use of cameras by the peacekeeping forces.

Hmmm.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:07 AM