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Blue Line is Sacred, Inviolable: UN Official
A senior United Nations official said on Thursday that the UN-drawn Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel is sacred and inviolable, noting that the line exists in the air and on the ground, the official NNA news agency reported.
Steffan de Misura, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal representative to south Lebanon, made the remarks during a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud, said the NNA.
De Misura criticised Israel for its warplanes violating Lebanese airspace 12 times on Wednesday and making sound barriers over the cities of Beirut and Sidon, adding "The Untied Nations will not accept any Israeli explanation of such infringement to the Lebanese sovereignty."
Meanwhile, the U.N. official said the attacks of the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah against Israeli outposts in the disputed Shebaa Farms also violated the Blue Line.
Hezbollah, or Party of God, on Wednesday fired 10 to 15 anti- tank missiles and 20 mortar rounds at two Israeli outposts in the Shebaa Farms, an area bordering Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
For his part, Hammoud described Israel's daily air violation as defiance to Lebanese sovereignty and U.N. authority, saying Lebanon has the right to use any means to reclaim occupied land, including the Shebaa Farms.
The Blue Line was drawn by the U.N. to authenticate the completeness of Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon on May 24 last year, ending a 22-year occupation. The line excludes the 200- square kilometer fertile Shebaa Farms from Lebanese territory.
Beirut and Damascus say the area belongs to Lebanon. However, Israel insists that it seized the area from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and its fate should be resolved in future negotiations between Israel and Syria.
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