Mideast situation/Lebanon – Letter from Lebanon

GENERAL ASSEMBLY SECURITY COUNCIL

Fiftieth session Fiftieth year

Item 44 of the provisional agenda*

THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

           Letter dated 31 August 1995 from the Permanent Representative

           of Lebanon to the United Nations addressed to the

Secretary-General

On instructions from my Government and further to our earlier letters concerning repeated Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa, I have the honour to notify you of the attacks that occurred in the first half of August 1995.

3 August 1995

Israeli artillery shelled land belonging to Qabrikha, Tulin, Majdal Silm, Ayn Bu Siwar, Ayn Qana, Jarju`, Arabsalim, Tilal Mita, Jabal Safi and the town of Baysur in the Jazzin district, where two houses were damaged.  The Israel Air Force bombarded Tilal Mita, Jabal Safi and land belonging to Ayn Bu Siwar.

4 August 1995

Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of Arabsalim, Ayn Bu Siwar and Jarju`, land belonging to Jabba` and the town of Nabatiyah al-Fawqa.

6 August 1995

The Israel Air Force overflew Na`imah and Jiyyah at low altitude, dropping heat balloons.  It also overflew the Ba`abda area.

It also overflew the Mashgharah post and the Sultan Ya`qub al-Tahta area.

7 August 1995

The Israel Air Force overflew the Nabatiyah, Sa`diyat and Awza`i areas, injuring two persons.

9 August 1995

The Israel Air Force overflew the Sultan Ya`qub, Nabatiyah and Iqlim al-Tuffah areas.

10 August 1995

Israeli artillery shelled land belonging to Kafra, Yatar, Haris and Haddathah.

12 August 1995

Israeli artillery shelled the vicinity of Kafr Tibnit, Kafr Rumman, Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, Zawtar al-Gharbiyah and Nabatiyah al-Fawqa, and the same towns were subjected to Israeli sniping.  Two houses were damaged in the bombardment.

The Israel Air Force overflew the Nabatiyah area.

13 August 1995

Israeli artillery shelled the abandoned Lebanese Army barracks in Nabatiyah al-Fawqa, as well as Tilal Mita, Jabal Safi and land belonging to Arabsalim and Ayn Bu Siwar.

14 August 1995

Israeli helicopter gunships attacked Tilal al-Na`imah, killing two persons and wounding five, causing substantial damage and igniting a fire.  Before and after the attack, the Israel Air Force overflew the Na`imah, Damur, Sa`diyat, Jiyyah and Sidon areas and the camps in their vicinity.

15 August 1995

The Israel Air Force overflew Sidon and the camps in its vicinity.

16 August 1995

The Israel Air Force overflew Sidon and the camps in its vicinity and the Iqlim al-Tuffah area.  Israeli forces bombarded Shaqra, Majdal Silm, Qabrikha, Tulin, Khirbat Silm, Ghanduriyah and Frun and closed the Zimriya crossing to vehicles and pedestrians seeking to move in either direction.

17 August 1995

Israeli forces arrested three fishermen on the open sea and held them for several hours.

Israeli aircraft made frequent overflights of Sidon and the Iqlim al-Tuffah area.

Israeli artillery shelled Tilal Mita, Jabal Safi, land belonging to Jarju`, Arabsalim, Jabba`, Ayn Bu Siwar, Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, Yuhmur and Mazra`at al-Hamra, and areas along the Litani river.

18 August 1995

Israeli artillery shelled land belonging to Kafra, Yatar, Frun, Ghanduriyah, Nabatiyah al-Fawqa, Zawatir, Kafr Rumman, Yuhmur and Mazra`at al-Hamra.

The Lebanese Government strongly condemns these repeated Israeli attacks and the arbitrary Israeli practices that have brought death and injury to civilians and caused enormous damage to their property and have prevented them from cultivating their fields, pursuing their occupations and earning their livelihoods.

In conjunction with the previous attacks, this new series constitutes flagrant aggression against the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon and represents another flagrant violation of international law and basic human rights.

The continued violence is ultimately due to Israel's maintenance of its occupation and its refusal to comply with Security Council resolution 425 (1978), which calls for Israel's withdrawal to the internationally recognized boundaries and for the Lebanese Government to be allowed to extend its authority over all its territory by means of its legally constituted forces.

I should be grateful if you would have this letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under item 44 of the provisional agenda, and of the Security Council.

(Signed)  Samir MOUBARAK     

Ambassador       

Permanent Representative

—–

_____________________

* A/50/150.