Israel is trying to create a rift between Lebanon and U.N. peacekeepers in the country’s south, Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri charged on Wednesday. "Israel is trying to exploit what happened in the south to create a rift between the Lebanese and UNIFIL," the French news agency AFP quoted Berri as saying. The speaker was referring to last week's explosion of an arms cache in a Hizbullah stronghold and a Lebanese protest march on an unmanned Israeli observation post on the border.
Following the incidents, Israel protested to the U.N. and demanded "firmer action" by the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The recent incidents "jeopardize the fragile stability along Israel's northern border and stand in contravention of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701,” said Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev in a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon. “Israel calls upon the Secretary General to exercise his influence and to ensure that UNIFIL will prevent any future incidents from occurring.”