An explosion
of a weapons stockpile in southern Lebanon
last week was caused by ammunition left in the area by the Israeli army, Lebanon claimed in a letter to the UN.
| Conflicting Account |
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| UN official: Arms cache that exploded in Lebanon was Hezbollah's / Yitzhak Benhorin |
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Security Council discusses Israeli complaints on recent incidents near its northern border; Under-Secretary-General LeRoy says Shiite group responsible for blast at arms cache and subsequent attack on UNIFIL soldiers sent to investigate it |
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According to London-based newspaper al-Hayat, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the UN claiming that the July 14 explosion occurred at a partly-built structure in a southern Lebanese village that stored arms "left behind by the Israelis."
During a discussion on the incident last week, the UN peacekeeping chief said there are signs the weapons stockpile that exploded belonged to Hezbollah.
In a speech delivered behind closed doors to the Security Council Thursday, UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy also said that some of the people who tried to prevent UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from investigating the site were Hezbollah members dressed in civilian clothes.
"A number of indications suggest that the depot belonged to Hezbollah, and, in contrast to previous discoveries by UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces of weapons and ammunition, that it was not abandoned but, rather, actively maintained," he told the 15-nation council in the speech, obtained by Reuters.
However, the Lebanese version contradicts Le Roy's claim that the explosion constituted a violation of UN Resolution 1701.
Reuters contributed to the report
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