Spain takes over UN peacekeeping command in Lebanon
Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas assumes command of UNIFIL, faces challenges such as IDF over flights, arms depots, rocket attacks
Spain took over command of the 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon on Thursday from outgoing Italian commander Major-General Claudio Graziano.
Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas assumed command of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL at the force's base in Naqoura in southern Lebanon.
Graziano took command of UNIFIL in February 2007, six months after the war between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israel ended.
Security Council resolution 1701, which stopped hostilities between the two, called for the UN border-monitoring contingent to rise to 15,000 from 2,000.
Graziano's tenure has been marked by a relatively quiet but tense time on the southern Lebanese border, as both Israel and Hezbollah accuse each other of violating the UN resolution.
Cuevas inherits numerous challenges such as near-daily IDF over flights, in violation of resolution 1701, and allegations involving arms depots in the south as well as occasional rocket attacks, widely blamed on fringe militant groups rather than Hezbollah.
In addition to the over flights, Lebanon has complained about suspected espionage activities and the continued occupation of parts of the border village of Ghajar.
Israel has criticized the UN peacekeeping operation in Lebanon for not stopping weapons it says are still flowing to Hezbollah guerrillas in the south, the group's main bastion.
The United Nations says that is the responsibility of Lebanese authorities.
