Lebanon has asked a number of Western states that are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to pressure Israel into stopping violations of its airspace or using Lebanese skies to launch attacks on Iranian or Hezbollah positions in Syria.
Lebanese diplomats told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel rejected a request to end its continuous violations because Israeli fighter jets need to track and attack any convoy carrying weapons before arriving at their destination in Lebanon.
Tel Aviv also believes it needs to launch attacks on Iranian or Hezbollah targets in Syria via Lebanese airspace, where Syrian radars cannot track Israeli warplanes.
The diplomats said several Western states are unable to prevent Israel from using the Lebanese airspace to launch such attacks given their common interests with Israel to contain pro-Iran militants and Hezbollah members in Syria.
In a report on activity in Lebanon from October 15, 2019 to April 7 of this year, which the UN Secretary-General submitted ahead of deliberations on compliance with Resolution 1559, Antonio Guterres mentioned Israeli aerial vehicles and fixed-wing aircraft, including fighter jets that “continue to make near daily over flights above Lebanon during the reporting period.”
Last month, Lebanon filed a UN complaint against Israel after its warplanes used Lebanese airspace to fire missiles at targets in Syria’s Homs.
The Foreign Ministry has said it filed the complaint over the dangerous Israeli violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
