Al-Rai Reports Suspicious UNIFIL Activity in South Lebanon

Al-Manar

13/05/2010 The Kuwaiti newspaper “Al-Rai” quoted “very close sources to the UNIFIL – U.N. Interim Forces in South Lebanon” as saying that a UNFIL topographic force had secretly went to the “Slouki” Valley in south Lebanon with a GPS-equipped laptop and without official authorization from UNIFIL chief Alberto Asarta Cuevas, to record “coordinates of covert defensive stations for the resistance.” The Kuwaiti newspaper added that the UNIFIL force did not request a Lebanese Army backup. The sources also told Al-Rai that “residents, including Hezbollah activists, blocked the force believing what this UNFIL unit was doing only served Israel, especially that the Slouki Valley is known for its sensitive military nature.”

The Kuwaiti daily report also quoted sources it said were close to the resistance in Lebanon as questioning the goal of this operation. “This could also be a provocative act to draw a reaction that would later be exploited against the resistance,” the source said, according to “Al-Rai.”

The daily also mentions other “similar incidents” by UNIFIL personnel, especially the Italian and Spanish contingents. It said that the most exciting news was the “suspicion” expressed by “close sources to the resistance” over the transport by the Italian unit of “unidentified individuals across the border” to occupied Palestine, what prompted the Lebanese General Security apparatus to file an official request to the UNIFIL to deploy an international Military Police unit at the point where the incident took place to prevent “trespassing.”

Moreover, the source tells Al-Rai, “a Spanish force had recently directed spotlights at Lebanese Army outposts, mainly in the Ghajar area, thus keeping army troops and their movement at night under the sight of the Israeli army.” The same source told the newspaper that Spanish troops have recently requested data about the relationship of candidates for municipal councils in the south with Hezbollah, particularly in the “Sunni-populated Arqoub area,” however their request remained unanswered.

The UNIFIL has expanded their presence south of the Litani River in line with UNSCR 1701 that put an end to hostilities in the wake of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian