Mideast situation/Lebanon – Letter from Lebanon

Letter dated 22 November 1988 from the Permanent Representative of

Lebanon to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

On instructions from my Government, and further to our previous letters concerning Israeli bombings in Lebanese territory, I have the honour to inform you of the following:

At 3 p.m. (local time) on Tuesday, 22 November 1988, six Israeli fighter aircraft, supported by military helicopters, carried out a series of raids on the eastern suburb of Sidon, specifically on the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, killing, according to an initial count, at least five persons and wounding dozens of others and damaging numerous buildings and houses.

The Lebanese Government again denounces the barbaric raids carried out by Israel and, in particular, these bombings, coming as they do on the very day when Lebanon is celebrating the forty-fifth anniversary of its independence.  In choosing this date, Israeli is seeking to reaffirm its policy of aggression against Lebanon and its persistent infringements of our country sovereignty and the inviolability of its air space, in defiance of the Charter of the United Nations and the rules of international law.

While reserving the right to request a meeting of the Security council in due course, the Lebanese Government again calls on the international community to condemn Israel and to prevail upon it immediately to cease its attacks against Lebanon.

I should be grateful if you would be kind enough to have the text of this letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 40, and of the Security Council.