Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon Sunday afternoon warned Michael Williams, the United Nations special coordinator in Lebanon, that the supervision of the Syrian-Lebanese border was not strict and that arms smuggling to Hizbullah continues and causes instability in Lebanon.
Referring to reports of tension along the Israeli-Lebanese border, the deputy foreign minister said, "We do not seek an escalation. On the contrary, we think Israel's interests, as well as Syria's and Lebanon's, is to maintain the calm in the north, but in order to do this, the arms smuggling to Hezbollah in Lebanon must be stopped.
"The U.N. representative said, "I welcome [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu's statement, in which he said loud and clear that Israel does not seek a conflict with Lebanon and is working to achieve peace with Arab countries." Williams also raised the Lebanese protests of Israel Air Force reconaissance flights made to monitor the weapons smuggling.
Regarding talk of Israel's pending withdrawal from the village of Ghajar on the Lebanese border, he said, "I had a very good meeting with the Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossi Gal," he said. "A part of the meeting dealt with Israel's withdrawal from the northern part of the village of Ghajar. We heard ideas and we hope to find solutions for this matter."