Situation in the Mideast – Letter from Lebanon

Identical letters dated 18 July 2006 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i.

of the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the

Security Council

On instructions from my Government, I have the honour to inform you that the Israeli aggression against Lebanon which commenced on 12 July 2006 escalated seriously today, 18 July 2006. At 12.40 p.m., a humanitarian aid convoy travelling from the United Arab Emirates was bombarded by Israeli warplanes in the locality of Tell Chiha, close by the statue of the Virgin Mary, in the region of the Zahle hills. Members of the guard accompanying the convoy were hit by the firing and the lorry transporting medicine was set on fire in the attack. A second humanitarian aid convoy was also hit by Israeli warplanes. These attacks took place despite the fact that the lorry transporting medicine and the ambulances displayed the emblem of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

I should be grateful if you would arrange for the text of this letter to be circulated as a document of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 14, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Caroline Ziade

Chargé d’affaires a.i.