Mideast situation/Lebanon – Letter from Lebanon

GENERAL ASSEMBLY SECURITY COUNCIL

Fiftieth session Fifty-first year

Agenda item 44

THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

          Letter dated 18 June 1996 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, I have the honour to notify you of the series of such attacks that took place in the second half of May 1996.

17 May 1996

At 1030 hours Israeli warplanes overflew the Nabatiyah area at low altitudes.

18 May 1996

Between 0400 and 0430 hours Israeli gunboats seized two fishing boats.  

On board the first boat were:  Khalil Ali Dirmsis, 31; his brother Abbas Ali Dirmsis, 26; and Darwish Fadl Haju, 55.  On board the other boat were:  Husayn Ibrahim Amis, 31; and Ahmad Hasan Qazan, 27.

19 May 1996

An Israeli gunboat rammed and caused serious damage to the fishing boat Ilham II (No. 1337) off Qulaylah beach.  The following were on board:  Husayn Na`im Ghanim, 18; Hasan Tawfiq Ghanim, 17; and Hani Tawfiq Barnawi, 27.

At 0800 hours the outskirts of Kafr Tibnit came under Israeli artillery fire.  This was accompanied by overflights of the area by Israeli helicopter gunships.  Nawal Ali Basal, a 40-year-old Lebanese woman, was wounded in the shelling and taken to Ghandur hospital in Nabatiyah al-Fawqa.

20 May 1996

At 0930 hours Israeli warplanes overflew the Iqlim al-Tuffah area.

At 2200 hours Israeli warplanes overflew the Iqlim al-Tuffah area at low altitudes.

22 May 1996

At 1630 hours Israeli warplanes overflew the Iqlim al-Tuffah area at low altitudes.

23 May 1996

At 1100 hours an artillery shell fired from one of the Israeli positions in the border strip fell on the outskirts of Suhmur.

25 May 1996

At 1400 hours the Mlita and Jabal Safi hills, the outskirts of Luwayzah and areas along the Nab` al-Tasah wadi came under Israeli artillery fire.

29 May 1996

At 0730 hours the outskirts of Frun, Ghanduriyah and Tulin came under Israeli artillery fire.

31 May 1996

At 0230 hours Israeli warplanes attacked Tallat al-Kayyal in Baalbek and bombed an ammunition dump belonging to Hizb Allah.  They were met with ground-based anti-aircraft fire.

The Lebanese Government strongly condemns these Israeli attacks, which have caused enormous damage to property.  It further condemns in the strongest terms the arbitrary practices directed against civilians.

Like previous attacks, this new series is in flagrant violation of the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon and constitutes a breach of international law and basic human rights.

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

(Signed)  Samir MOUBARAK     

Permanent Representative

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