UN/ISRAEL: United Nations Security Council condemns rocket attack on northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona from Southern Lebanon

Record ID: 395437

  • Title: UN/ISRAEL: United Nations Security Council condemns rocket attack on northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona from Southern Lebanon
  • Date: 19th June 2007
  • Summary: (BN17) UNITED NATIONS (FILE) (REUTERS) REPORTER WRITING IN NOTEPAD
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAEK2RSK38CHAFMLD1TDLZJNT21
  • Story Text: The United Nations Security Council on Monday (June 18) condemned the attacks on the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.
    Johan Verbeke, the Belgian ambassador to United Nations and acting Security Council president, told reporters the attack was against UN resolutions.
    "The members of the Security Council strongly condemn the rocket attacks launched against Israel from Southern Lebanon on June 17, 2007. Which constitutes a serious breech of the cessation of hostilities and a flagrant violation of resolution 1701 from 2006," he said,.
    The northern Israeli town of Kyriat Shmona was hit by two Katyusha rockets on Sunday (June 17) but no one was hurt.
    Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, who fired thousands of Katyushas into Israel a year ago, denied they launched the first such attack since that war. In all, three rockets were fired.
    Israeli forces did not retaliate and the government made clear it wanted no escalation into another border war.
    A Lebanese security source also blamed Palestinians, though any motivation was unclear.
    Verbeke said the Security Council reaffirmed their support to the Lebanon government and army and urged all parties concerned to use restraints and to respect the blue line, a buffer zone in the border between northern Israel and Lebanon.
    The attack on Sunday (June 17) came a few hours after a new, Western-backed Palestinian emergency government was sworn in in the West Bank after a week of bloody Palestinian faction fighting that saw the Islamist group Hamas seize control in the Gaza Strip.
    Hamas and Hezbollah follow different branches of Islam but have some things in common, including support from Iran and Syria.
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