A United Nations Security Council session held under the request of Israel and the United States on the alleged cross-border tunnels of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, failed on Wednesday to issue a statement or express a condemnation.
"A thorough investigation to establish the trajectories and points of origin of the identified tunnels is a complex task," said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the deputy head of UN peacekeeping operations.
"The tunnels are between 29 and 46 meters below ground, difficult to detect and in close proximity to areas sensitive to both parties," he told the Security Council, according to Agence France Presse.
Calling the tunnels "a serious violation of Resolution 1701" -- which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah -- Lacroix said they "do not appear thus far to have exit points on the Israeli side."
He said two of the four tunnels that had been detected stretched south of the so-called Blue Line, the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel drawn up by the UN to verify Israel's withdraw from Lebanon in 2000.
Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon presented the Security Council with aerial photos that he said proved Hezbollah's presence below the Blue Line.
"With a terror base of operations on the Israeli border, if Hezbollah dares to attack Israel, it will bring the ruin of Lebanon," he said.
But Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi reaffirmed Lebanon’s right to protect its sovereignty.
“Lebanon has long been living with threats and violations by Israel's army,” the diplomat said.
He urged the international community to force Israel into abiding by Resolution 1701, which it continues to violate mainly through overflights in Lebanon.
