Lebanon accuses Israel of hurting its image

Aug 21, 2008, 16:33 GMT

Beirut - Lebanon's Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said on Thursday that Israel's threats aim at hurting Lebanon's image.

'Who said that the cabinet has given the okay to Hezbollah to carry out any action against Israel?' Salloukh asked.

He said the situation south of the Litani River is stable where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is exerting 'major efforts and there have been no complaints against Hezbollah.'

Lebanon adheres to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Salloukh noted.

Lebanon, according to Salloukh, has honoured its commitments in line with the resolution while Israel persists in violating the resolution by its daily overflights over Lebanese territories.

Resolution 1701 brought an end to the July 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon's militant movement Hezbollah.

The UN resolution demanded a full cessation of hostilities, Israel to withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon in parallel with Lebanese and UNIFIL soldiers deploying throughout the south, and the full control of Lebanon by the Lebanese government.

Israel has warned the Lebanese government against giving greater legitimacy to the Shiite militant group, saying it would make the entire country a target in any future war.

'The moment the Lebanese government confers legitimacy on Hezbollah, it must understand that the entire Lebanese state will be a target in the same way that all of Israel is a target for Hezbollah,' Environment Minister Gideon Ezra told Israeli public radio on Wednesday.

'During the Second Lebanese War we considered the possibility of attacking Lebanon's infrastructure but we never resorted to this option, because we thought at the time that not all the Lebanese were responsible for the Hezbollah attacks,' added Ezra, who is close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israeli bombing during the 2006 conflict with Hezbollah was largely confined to Beirut and the south but the military did hit civilian infrastructure, including the main international airport, roads, bridges and power stations.

Israel has always said that such instances were exceptions to an attack that was solely focused on Hezbollah and was initially aimed only at recovering two Israeli soldiers seized in a deadly cross- border raid.

The two soldiers were captured by Hezbollah on July 12, 2006. Their capture led to a 33-day war by Israel on Lebanon, during which the Jewish state failed to free its soldiers.

The two dead soldiers were returned to Israel in a swap with Hezbollah on July 16. In return, Israel freed five Lebanese prisoners who were held in Israeli jails and handed over the bodies of around 199 dead Hezbollah and Arab militants.