Israel complains to UN about south Lebanon blast (Extra)

Oct 14, 2009, 11:04 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israel has complained to the United Nations about an explosion of an alleged arms cache in the village of Tayr Felsay, east of the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre late Monday.

In the complaint, Israel said that UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended 33 days of fighting between Israel and Lebanon's radical Shiite Hezbollah movement in 2006, allows only the Lebanese Army to posess weapons south of the Litani river.

Hezbollah continues to violate that resolution and is using civilian population centres to hide weapons, Israeli UN Ambassador Gabriella Shalev charged in the complaint letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to the Security Council.

The United Nations Interim Force in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirmed Wednesday that the site of the blast was within its jurisdiction and south of the Litani river.

'The site which we inspected on the night the explosion took place in Tayr Felsay is south of the Litani, and within the operations of our mission,' UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziyane told the German Press Agency dpa.

Hezbollah had claimed the blast was caused by a rocket dating from the 2006 war, stored in the garage of the home of a Hezbollah member in the village.

But the Israeli army Tuesday released a video in which what were said to be Lebanese militants are seen removing dozens of rockets out of the home after the blast. Army spokeswoman Avital Leibowitz said the video was shot by an unmanned drone.