Beirut, March 08: The Lebanese and Israeli armies vowed Monday to maintain calm and peace along the Blue Line, said Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas.
Asarta chaired a tripartite meeting with the Lebanese Army and the Israeli Armed Forces at the UNIFIL headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura.
“Maintaining peace and stability was the goal of this tripartite meeting and I am happy that we were able to address all the issues in a constructive atmosphere,” he said.
Similar to previous tripartite meetings, senior officials from the Lebanese and Israeli militaries discussed all major issues related to the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 such as the stability along the border Blue Line and security incidents.
U.N.’s Security Council Resolution 1701 brought a halt to hostilities between Lebanon and Israel in the summer of 2006. However, after a month long war between the two sides, Israel kept its grip on and occupation of the northern section of the tiny Lebanese village of Ghajar.
During the tripartite meeting, participants also discussed the issue of the Israeli withdrawal from the northern part of Ghajar.
Besides the deployment of thousands of U.N. peacekeeping troops in south Lebanon, Resolution 1701 called on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanese territories.
——–Agencies