Israel Envoy to the UN, Gabriella Shalev
Israel Envoy to the UN, Gabriella ShalevIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Lebanese and United Nations (UNIFIL) soldiers have discovered and defused four more Katyusha rockets at the same launching pad used to attack Kiryat Shmona with a missile Tuesday night. No one was injured in the explosion, which ignited a brush fire near the city.

 

Israel charged that the Lebanese government, in which the Hizbullah terrorist organization has a large minority, is responsible for all attacks in Israel from its country. Ambassador Gabriella Shalev filed an official complaint with the United Nations and noted that Israel has repeatedly warned that Hizbullah is rearming since the end of the Second Lebanon War three years ago.

 

UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane stated, "UNIFIL immediately launched an investigation” into the rocket fire from the village of Houla, the site of recent explosions of alleged underground spy devices.

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a report issued several hours before the latest rocket attack, expressed “deep concern” over Hizbullah’s public support for other terrorists in southern Lebanon. A Palestinian cell is suspected of having fired the rocket at Israel Tuesday night.

 

U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen told a closed-door session of the Security Council that Hizbullah must be disarmed and transformed into a non-military political party. Its political arm holds approximately one-third of the Cabinet seats and has a virtual veto over all major legislation.