Secretary-General deeply concerned about Israeli violation

 

of ceasefire on 19 August

 

The following statement was issued on 19 August by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli side of the cessation of hostilities as laid out in Security Council resolution 1701 (2006).  The incident involved an Israeli raid in eastern Lebanon on Saturday.

According to UNIFIL (the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), there have also been several air violations by Israeli military aircraft.

All such violations of Security Council resolution 1701 endanger the fragile calm that was reached after much negotiation, and undermine the authority of the Government of Lebanon.  The Secretary-General further calls on all parties to respect strictly the arms embargo, exercise maximum restraint, avoid provocative actions and display responsibility in implementing resolution 1701.

The Secretary-General has today spoken to the Prime Ministers of Israel and Lebanon about this matter.

He has further instructed that daily reports of compliance on the cessation of hostilities by the parties should be provided to the Security Council.

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For information media • not an official record