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Monday, July 20, 2009

Explosion of Hizbullah warehouse said to reveal Lebanese Army's complicity

JERUSALEM — Israel has charged the Lebanese Army units with facilitating Hizbullah weapons shipments in south Lebanon near the border with Israel.   

In a letter to the United Nations, Israel said the Lebanese Army helped conceal Hizbullah's military presence in the south, Middle East Newsline reported.

"With more than 20,000 rockets in its possession south of the Litani River, Hizbullah gravely endangers the local Lebanese civilian population by turning their houses into military bunkers and storages," Israeli envoy to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, wrote.


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Shalev referred to an explosion of what Israel determined was a Hizbullah weapons warehouse on July 14. He said the warehouse contained rockets, mortars, artillery shells, grenades shipped to Hizbullah since the war with Israel in 2006.

"This recent explosion is a glaring example of Hizbullah's use of civilian infrastructure," Shalev said.

On July 15, the Israeli military released a video taken of the suspected Hizbullah warehouse in Hirbat Silm. The footage showed dozens of holes in the roof that the military said was caused by 122 mm Katyusha rockets.

Israel said the Lebanese Army blocked UN access to the alleged Hizbullah weapons cache. The Israeli letter said the Lebanese Army operation marked a violation of the UN Security Council-arranged ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah.

"An official organ of the Lebanese state — the Lebanese Army — delayed UNIFIL from fulfilling its obligations," Shalev said. "As such, this obstruction of movement must be denounced in very clear and robust terms."

A leading Arab daily reported that several Hizbullah operatives were killed in the explosion in Hirbat Silm. But the Kuwaiti newspaper, A-Siyassi, said the weapons cache, which contained anti-tank missiles, was not destroyed.

"The geographical layout of the area where the outpost was situated, as well as its relative proximity to the border proves that it could not be a weapons depot, rather a front-line outpost," A-Siyassi quoted a Lebanese military source as saying.



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