Danon to address UN Security Council on Hezbollah terror tunnels

Israeli Ambassador Danon will demand the U.N. Security Council confront the terror threat from Hezbollah on Wednesday. He will also provide evidence of collaboration between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah. 

By Jack Gold, World Israel News

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will meet on Wednesday to discuss the exposure of Hezbollah’s cross-border tunnels running into Israel from Lebanon.

The discussion is taking place at the request of Israel and the U.S. and will focus on the violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which was adopted at the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

The resolution includes restrictions on the arming of Hezbollah and its terrorist activities in southern Lebanon.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) agreed that the tunnels dug by the Lebanese terror group into Israel violate Security Council resolution 1701.

In a statement the U.N. force released Monday.“After further technical investigations conducted independently in accordance with its mandate, UNIFIL at this stage can confirm that two of the tunnels cross the Blue Line that demarcates the border between Israel and Lebanon. These constitute violations of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701,”

Before the U.N. discussion, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said that since UNIFIL “confirmed that Hezbollah tunnels are a flagrant violation of Resolution 1701, it is time for the Security Council to use all means necessary to confront this terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon, which has continued to grow under the Lebanese government.”

Danon said he “will show how these tunnels are just the beginning of a large-scale operation against Israel that Hezbollah has been planning and implementing for years.”

Israel has underscored the fact that the terror group dug the tunnels in order to infiltrate the country and carry out attacks. Hezbollah has not commented on the operation.

The IDF has so far exposed four Hezbollah tunnels in Operation Northern Shield. The mission to discover and neutralize more of them is expected to last several months.

Lebanese Army-Hezbollah link

One of the issues that Danon will emphasize is the Lebanese army’s cooperation, or at least it’s ignoring of Hezbollah’s tunnel project. Danon is expected to present intelligence materials – “conclusive proof,” as he put it – which attests to the coordination between the Lebanese army and Hezbollah.

He will also share previously unpublished information on Hezbollah’s violations of Resolution 1701.

“There is a clear connection between parts of the Lebanese army and the Hezbollah terror organization, which help the terrorist organization expand its terror infrastructure in the country and destabilize the region,” Danon said.

“Under the Lebanese government, a tunnel city and factories for accurate missiles were built, which not only blatantly violate the U.N. resolution but endanger the residents of south Lebanon who serve as human shields. Israel will thwart any threat and will act with force against Hezbollah and anyone else who will try to harm its sovereignty.”

The UNSC has “already said clearly to Hezbollah that it must not arm itself and continue its terrorist activity against Israel, which has not prevented the organization from continuing its path and now trying to infiltrate Israeli territory through terrorist tunnels,” he said.

Israel has reiterated that Lebanon, and not only Hezbollah, well bear full responsibility for any offensive activity that would emanate from Lebanon.