Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib (R) speaks with his Cyprus' counterpart Constantinos Kombos during their meeting in Beirut on March 12, 2024. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib instructed the relevant departments of the Ministry on Wednesday to lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council, through Lebanon's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, following a series of Israeli attacks on March 11 and 12 that targeted civilians in residential areas around the town of Baalbeck and neighboring villages.
The Ministry's press release noted the minister's "concern" that these attacks are taking place far from the border, indicating "an Israeli desire to extend the conflict."
Bou Habib urged the international community to put pressure on Israel "to put an end to its aggression, which continues at an accelerated pace," the statement reads.
The foreign minister expressed a desire for members of the Security Council to collectively condemn the Israeli aggression against Lebanon "and work for the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 [2006)] in order to achieve lasting calm on Lebanon's southern border."
Fifty-two civilians have been killed since the beginning of the war in southern Lebanon which followed the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, according to L'Orient Today's count.
Various Lebanese officials have announced several complaints filed with the UN since the war began, specifically regarding Israeli violations of Lebanese territory, with little information surfacing regarding any potential consequences or responses to these complaints.
Preventing these violations is part of the indirect negotiations happening, through third parties, between Lebanon and Israel towards a resolving of the conflict at their border, much of which revolves around disputed territory.
In early February, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that Lebanon had logged “35,000 Israeli violations” of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which was drawn up as a agreement that marked the end of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. These violations allegedly encompass encroachments on Lebanon’s airspace, territory, and maritime sovereignty.
Though Mikati did not specify the duration or the source of this tally, the figure aligns with the “nearly 30,000” violations reported since the resolution’s adoption in August 2006. This data was initially mentioned by former General Security Chief Abbas Ibrahim on social media on Jan. 25 and was reiterated by the official National News Agency (NNA).
