Raad: UN Troops Don't Have Absolute Authorities in South

03/07/2010 The head of the Loyalty to the Resistance MP Mohamad Raad said UN troops in Lebanon did not have absolute authorities, noting that the peacekeepers were welcome in Lebanon as part of their mission set by Security Council resolution 1701.

"UNIFIL troops are not troops that have absolute authorities or are not mandate forces. They are peacekeepers whose missions and authorities have been set by resolution 1701 in backing the Lebanese army," Raad told Lebanese daily As-Safir.

He said attacks by stones on the peacekeepers in several southern villages earlier in the week should pave way for the alteration of the peacekeepers' performance within their mission set by 1701.

The Hezbollah MP stressed that southerners have proved that they could coexist with the UN troops and they are aware of the soldiers' missions and watchful of their own interests. "They don't have a negative stance from UNIFIL," Raad said about the residents of the south.


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