Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday slammed Israel for what he said was an attempt to create a rift between the Lebanese and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, reported AP.
"Israel is trying to exploit what happened in the south to create a rift between the Lebanese and UNIFIL," Berri told reporters after meeting President Michel Sleiman.
He was referring to a series of events last week, including the explosion of an arms cache in a Hezbollah stronghold and a protest march by Lebanese on an unmanned Israeli observation post in a disputed border area.
Israel has protested to the United Nations about the incidents and asked for "firmer action" by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
He denied however that Israel has sought an amendment to UN Resolution 1701, which brought an end to a devastating war in Lebanon between the Jewish state and the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia in 2006.
In a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Israel's UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said the recent incidents "jeopardize the fragile stability along Israel's northern border and stand in contravention of UN Security Council resolution 1701."
"Israel calls upon the government of Lebanon to exercise its authority and prevent such violations of the Blue Line (separating Israel from south Lebanon) that endanger the stability along our mutual border," she noted.
"In addition, Israel calls upon the Secretary General to exercise his influence and to ensure that UNIFIL will prevent any future incidents from occurring," Shalev said.
